Blessed Notes
by katiesquilts
Summary: When a new girl picks up Light's death note, she becomes involved in Kira's new world. How close will Light let her come, before he is forced to write down her name? LightxOc. Now has a sequel INSIDE the story which includes L ! LONG HIATUS!
1. Chapter 1

How many of you hate me right now? raises hand Yup, me too. I don't know why I do this to myself. I think I'm putting myself into an early grave. Will you all come to my funeral? puppy eyes Yeah, yeah, I know, you all still hate me. But hey, I'm branching out, right? No more Naruto fanfics for a while. And yes, I feel guilty cause this wasn't on my list of "Coming Soon" animes, but you should all know by now that I rarely stick to my word! Unless it's like, really, really, important.

So, this thought randomly came into my head while I was watching Death Note on TV (Saturday night, midnight, on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim), and I guess I couldn't get it out of my head. I've only watched a few episodes, so my knowledge is that of a peanut's. Please don't kill me if I mess something up! TT

My inspiration for this chapter: an apple (you know, like the ones Ryuk is always eating?)

----apple----

Naeko looked out the tinted window of the cab, trying her hardest not to fall asleep. The plane ride had been a long one, and though she had had intentions of falling asleep on the way to Japan, several obstacles had gotten in her way. That day, Naeko had found out…babies and planes DO NOT MIX.

"Is this it?" the cab driver asked, looking over his shoulder so that Naeko knew the question was directed at her. The cab pulled to a stop, and Naeko looked out the window at the house they had stopped in front of. It was almost exactly like the house in a picture she had been shown before she left, the only difference being the color of the grass. Maybe somebody had been neglecting the yard, for the grass to have become so yellow. It wasn't even so hot out this time of year.

"Yes, this is it," she replied. The cab driver nodded and got out of the cab, heading towards the trunk to remove her suitcase from the trunk. Naeko grabbed her duffel bag off of the seat next to her and slammed the door shut, the noise resounding through out the entire quiet, peaceful neighborhood. Well, of course it was peaceful; all of the annoying little kids were asleep! Thank god for that little peace of heaven.

"Thank you for driving me all the way out here," Naeko said politely to her driver. They bowed to each other, and when the man wasn't looking she slipped a five dollar bill into his jacket pocket.

"It was no problem, really!" the driver said back, his smile stretching across his handsome face. He really hadn't noticed Naeko's sneaky motions at all. "Next time you need a driver, call me up!"

Naeko laughed lightly, her charming personality kicking in. It was the one thing that made her popular at her old school, besides her good grades and her active athletic life. "Yes, well, I don't think I have to go anywhere that far away for a while now, but if I do, I'll be sure to request you!" The driver smiled warmly at her, and the two stood there for a moment, before the driver blushed, realizing her had been standing there a bit too long.

"Yes, well, I'll see you later, Naeko!" he said bowing once more and running around to the other side of the car.

"See you, Kenji!" Naeko called back. Her suitcase lay abandoned on the sidewalk where her newest friend had stood only moments earlier. Naeko waved goodbye until the cab was out of sight, and then she took a good look at her newest home - at least for the next few years.

A sudden movement caught her eye, forcing her to look up into an upstairs window of the house to the right of her aunt and uncle's. A light had turned on, and curtains were pulled aside for the mystery person to look outside. _Nosy bastards,_ Naeko thought, pulling her nose up as though the person could actually see her disdain. Naeko's curiosity got her to look just a tad bit closer, though. With the light behind them, Naeko could easily see that the silhouette was that of a male's. Then, the curtains closed and the light flicked off.

_Huh, well that was short. Maybe they weren't really looking at me, maybe they were looking at something else. Oh, look, I guess Auntie Mayako and Uncle Yuki are up_. Naeko dragged her suitcase to the front porch and knocked on the door. It was immediately opened by her aunt, and Naeko was swept up into a huge hug.

"Oh, Naeko! We just heard you drive up! Here, let your Uncle Yuki get your suitcase for you. Come in, come in. We have hot chocolate, if you want it," Mayako blabbed. Naeko could only smile sweetly and allow her quiet uncle to take her suitcase.

After Naeko insisted she didn't need any hot chocolate, she was shown to her guest room. Much to her dislike, she found out it was right across from the window the light had been on in next door. The good thing was that there was an included bathroom in the room, so she could get dressed in there. Anyone could tell that Naeko wasn't fond of peekers, and if someone had looked out just to see who had stopped in the next-door drive, who new what they would look at if she forgot to close her curtains while dressing one unfortunate night…

Naeko visibly shuddered, and her aunt asked if she was cold. Naeko smiled sweetly and replied that she was fine. Mayako nodded and smiled back, exiting the room to allow time for Naeko to unpack her things and have time to herself. Not that she hadn't been somewhat alone for the past two hours while she drove in the cab.

Naeko locked her room and then dropped her duffel bag on the nice, clean bed, flopping down beside it with a sigh. How many nice, polite smiles had she given out today? Too many to count, that was for sure. She rubbed her jaws; Naeko rarely smiled and today had been a real workout for her mouth muscles.

Naeko looked out her window. When she sat on her bed - which was up against her longest wall, the wall across from her door - she could see the stars and a small portion of the moon, but the house next door was blocking out the rest of the night sky. Scowling, Naeko shoved her duffel bag off of her bed and crawled underneath the covers of her bed. She didn't even bother to close her blinds, because the were only made of sheer material, and she could see the streetlights through them, so they wouldn't give her much protection anyway. _What a bunch of crap…_

Naeko felt herself slip in and out of sleep, her mind running over all the things she had said that day, all of the conversations she had held, and all of the sights she had seen. One particular thought that entered her mind was that of the cab driver, Kenji. She had felt sorry for him, because he had probably been her age, if not a few years older. That age, and already having a full-time job must be horrible. But, the two had hit it off really well, and she had gone as far as to rank him a "friend" in her mind, something she hardly ever did. Naeko had very few friends, and for good reasons too.

Another thought entered Naeko's head, probably the last thought she had before falling asleep. _I don't have an alarm set. I hope Auntie and Uncle wake me up in the morning. Damn, I don't really have to wear those hideous uniforms, do I? Miniskirts, ugh. But, knowing Mayako, she probably picked out the smallest of the miniskirts. Not that I'd have a problem with it if I didn't actually have to wear it in public, but I never show that much skin. And why knee socks? Why not leggings? At least if the guys flipped our skirts, they'd only see our leggings, and not our underwear. Geez, this is so retarded. Damn, I need to stop thinking so negatively. And this whole cussing thing, when did_ it _start? I feel like I hardly know myself anymore! Maybe that's why I accepted this foreign exchange program. Mom really freaked when she found out I was going to the same prefecture as the legendary "Kira", but I really couldn't give a damn. It's not like I'm gonna meet the guy. Or maybe it's a girl. You know what, I bet it's a girl. Girl power, woot_.

Naeko sighed as her sarcastic thoughts took over. Snuggling deeper under the covers of her bed, the girl felt a sense of calm drift over her, and she fell into a deep sleep. Dreams of miniskirts, perverse, skirt-flipping, peeking, neighbors, and cab rides into the sunset filled her head, amusing her more than anything. Yes, Naeko used her dreams for amusement, and nothing more. It's not like she was planning to take over the world or anything. That was _Kira's_ job.

----Kira----

Naeko woke up to the smell of breakfast the next morning. She couldn't tell exactly what was being cooked, but it sure did smell good. Drifting out of her bed, Naeko ran her fingers through her hair as she unlocked her door and walked down the stairs into the kitchen. It was easy to find your way in the Menshi family household.

"Good morning, Naeko!" Mayako greeted enthusiastically. Naeko mumbled a good morning back, and then plopped into one of the kitchen chairs. Mayako immediately put a plate in front of her, and Naeko thanked her again, muttering an inaudible, "Itchadakimasu." Mayako sat down and dug into her own plate. Naeko barely noticed, though, because she was busy savoring the unknown food.

"So, Naeko, are you excited for your first day of school in Japan?" Mayako asked in-between small bites. Naeko nodded, swallowing her mouthful before answering.

"Yes, but I'm not looking forward to the uniform I'm sure you've picked out for me. Miniskirts my ass," Naeko said, humor in her eyes. It was a well known joke of the family that Mayako's attempts to get the tomboy Naeko into skirts and showy shirts never ended well.

"Aw, you're no fun," Mayako said, pouting a little and putting her hands on her tiny hips.

"Yeah, yeah," Naeko said, laughing. Mayako was definitely her favorite family member, even if the older women tried to get her into the most ridiculous clothing sometimes. Naeko gulped down the last of her breakfast and then rose from the table, setting her plate carefully into the sink to be washed later. "Um, speaking of the damned uniform, where is it? I think I should be getting ready for school now."

Mayako laughed, totally unphased by her niece's swearing. "I hung it in your closet once I got it. You'll know which one it is. Oh, and the socks and shoes should be in the bottom of the closet." Naeko nodded and waved goodbye to her uncle, not sure if he would be leaving for work soon or not.

Naeko ran up the carpeted stairway and entered her bedroom, closing it with a snap of the lock. She didn't even have to turn on her light to see, because the sun was well up, making its way into her room through the window (and its shitty curtains).

Naeko looked into her closet and noted that it wasn't the only outfit hanging up. Rummaging around a bit, she found the very tidy-looking tan blouse and skirt combo. It really didn't look all that bad, if she could imagine it on someone besides herself. Resigning herself to her fate, Naeko changed quickly and skidded into her personal bathroom, running her hairbrush through her shoulder length chocolate brown hair, brushing her teeth, and washing her face. Then she reached into her closet again and pulled out the matching black shoes, a wad of socks stuffed into the toes of one shoe. After donning socks and shoes, Naeko ran back downstairs and looked at the time. What had she been hurrying for? She still had plenty of time, if the schools started at 8:10 like she had been told.

"Getting an early start?" Mayako asked, opening the door for her niece.

"Yeah, I guess," Naeko admitted. "I want to know my way around the school, and I might even get to meet the teachers and other students if I have enough time."

Mayako made a face. "Aw, Naeko, don't turn into a teacher's pet on the first day! That'd totally ruin your rep! Try to be the popular girl every guy _dreams_ of drooling over!"

"Yeah, yeah," Naeko said, humoring her aunt. "Well, then, I'll see you later. You don't mind if I stay a little after school, do you?"

"Why would I mind?" Mayako asked blankly, focusing on the sexy mailman walking across the street, about to deliver their mail.

"Ugh, you are such a blank slate!" Naeko yelled, running down the steps to the sidewalk. "See you later," she added as an afterthought. Mayako broke her eyes away from the mailman long enough to wave a goodbye, and then went back to staring.

---enter Light---

Yeah, yeah, bad ending for today. Next chapter you'll see how Light fits into all of this, because right now I only gave a bit of background onto my OC character. I didn't spell check this very well, so just ignore my mistakes, and like I said, I have the knowledge of a peanut when it comes to Death Note, so constructive criticism is totally welcomed! Not that there's much to comment on….but do it anyway!


	2. Chapter 2

I'd like to thank Demongirl1o1 for being the first reviewer! You get a cookie!

Inspiration for this chapter: a Hershey's bar (I really needed it to stay awake!)

----chocolate!----

Mr. Yakatome looked up from his attendance sheet, attention caught by a knock on the door. "Come in," he called, thinking it might be a student from a neighboring classroom, wishing to borrow a few of their textbooks. The door to the classroom opened, and a young lady looked guiltily into the classroom, peeking her head in a bit before stepping all the way into the floor, closing the door behind her.

"I'm sorry I'm late, sir," the young lady said, bowing. Mr. Yakatome blinked before scanning his list, eyes finally resting on an unfamiliar name.

"Ah, I take it you are a new student, Ms. Menshi?" The girl nodded, and murmurs rippled throughout the classroom. It was very rare that the class got new students. In fact, several families had been leaving the prefecture once word leaked out of Kira's residence nearby. All the same, the young lady was undaunted by the whispers, and her gaze was fully on him. "Would you like to explain to us why you are late, Ms. Menshi?"

The girl laughed nervously, and a few of the guys chuckled. She was innocent looking at her best, and the feeling increased when she tucked a stray strand of chocolate, shoulder-length hair behind her right ear. "Well, I got lost on the way to school, so..."

That was all it took. The whole entire class erupted into laughter, the girl included. Even Mr. Yakatome laughed a little. That was one late excuse he had never heard before. Then again, this girl was an exchange student, and even though she looked like she had been raised in Japan, she had a slight accent that came from years of speaking English. _She could have been born in Japan, raised in another country_, the male teacher mused. Sighing, he pointed the girl to a seat in the very back of the room. "I'm afraid that's the only empty seat we have open right now, but you can call it yours."

Naeko nodded and walked past all of the students, most of whom flashed her encouraging smiles and whispered introductions under their breaths. She plopped into her seat in the back, totally prepared to pay attention to the lesson that was about to unfold. Unfortunately, she wasn't prepared for the teacher to get called down to the office. Yakatome sighed and told the class he'd be right back. The moment the classroom door slid shut, several people were up in Naeko's face.

"Hey, so, did you_ really _get lost on your way to school?"

"What's your first name? Can I call you by it?"

"Do you need a guide for the school? I'm totally available after school, if you want to be shown around!"

"Are you single?"

This last question got Naeko to laugh. How crazy _were_ these people? She was just a new student, geez. In the U.S., new students were ignored, until some clique decided to "adopt" them. "Um, well, my first name is Naeko. Naeko Menshi. I used to live in this town, about 10 years ago. But then, after certain...circumstances...my parents decided to ship me off to the United States. Right now I'm living with my aunt and uncle."

"So, if you used to live here, how did you get lost?" It was the same guy who had asked the question earlier.

Naeko chuckled again, causing several smiles to break out through the small crowd formed around her desk. "Cut me some slack! I haven't been in this prefecture for 10 years! Although, making detours along the way to stop at a few of my old hangouts didn't help my time much either." This caused another barrage of questions, none of which Naeko even had time to answer.

A lone voice said, "Mr. Yakatome is coming," and the students immediately scampered back to their seats. While they were moving, Naeko could see one student who hadn't even moved from his seat. She was glad that there was at least _one_ sane person in this classroom. Upon taking a closer look, Naeko could see that he was good-looking, with light brown hair, and it was hard to tell, but she guessed he had brown eyes. Once in a while, the boy would look out the window next to him, and then look back to the book in his hands.

True to the boy's word, Mr. Yakatome came in a minute later, flustered and laden down with several heavy textbooks. Dropping the textbooks onto his desk, Yakatome leaned heavy onto the edge of the desk and sighed with relief. Then he addressed the class, "Alright, now that that's over with, let's get out our Literature textbooks please, and turn to page 61. Today we'll be starting a section on fables. Can anyone tell me a famous writer of fables?"

Naeko lazily raised her hand, and Yakatome called on her. "How about that Aesop dude? Like, Aesop's fables?"

Yakatome nodded. "Yes, Aesop wrote thousands and thousands of these fables. Today we are going to read one called "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing". Has anyone read this fable before?" Again, Naeko lazily raised her hand. "Alright, Miss Menshi, would you care to tell us what the fable is about. Or rather, what _is_ a fable?"

Naeko sighed, earning a few giggles from those around her. "A fable is a story that has a moral; or in other words, it tells us how to run our lives. "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" is about a wolf that disguises himself as a sheep in order to sneak into a pasture full of sheep, thinking he'd be able to feast easily this way. During the night, however, the shepherd visits the pasture, and when he grabs the wolf, the wolf is killed instantly. The moral...well, if you're gonna harm somebody, expect it to come right back at you."

Yakatome smiled, and a few of the cheekier students clapped. In a spur of the moment, Naeko stood up form her chair, made one elegant bow, and then sat back down, earning more claps. "Yes, I suppose that's the easiest way of putting it, but how many of you think that the wolf should have died for what he did, or planned to do?" Most of the students raised their hands. Naeko was one of the few who didn't. Seeing that they were in the minority, those who previously had kept their hands down now raised them, until Naeko was the only with both hands down.

Yakatome grinned; this new student was quite the interesting pupil. "Alright Miss Menshi, I suppose you get to answer a few more questions. First of all, why don't you think the wolf should die?"

Naeko had her answer ready, and she immediately responded, "Because the wolf did nothing wrong, that we know of. The fable does not state if the wolf killed any of the sheep in the pasture; it just merely states he was disguised when he was allowed in. If this were a murder case, the verdict could have been attempt to murder. But you don't get a death sentence if you had an attempt to murder, now, do you?" The class was silent as they pondered this thought. Then, a voice spoke up from the other side of the classroom.

"That doesn't really matter, does it. Think about all of the other animals that wolf has slain. Just because he _wanted _to kill one more doesn't mean he gets off the hook." Naeko turned to face the brown-haired boy she had noticed earlier. He was in a thinking position, with his hands clasped and chin resting on his hands.

"Yes, but some animals must kill to survive. Those animals had been needed for the wolf to eat. If he hadn't have killed them, the wolf would have died from starvation. You and I kill for our food. All around the world, people kill farm animals for food and other necessities. We need those animals to survive, and it's not like we can survive on plants alone. Scientists have proved it's bad for our diet if we go too long without meat." Naeko argued, determined she wouldn't lose this verbal battle. She was surprised, however, at Mr. Yakatome's willingness to allow the debate. In fact, he looked giddy that two students were arguing over a stupid question.

"The problem was, the wolf was using a disguise to kill. He was taking the easy way out...the coward's way out." Naeko thought for a moment, and then her heart sank. What the guy said was right, absolutely right.

"Yeah, but," she said desperately, keeping a clear tone for her voice, "a death sentence was still too much. In a few states of the U.S., there is a law that you cannot sentence anyone to the death sentence, no matter how terrible their verdict. I mean, it doesn't matter if you killed several people or just one, you can't be killed for that. That was even proved in the Tate and LaBianca murders! It could be different for a terrorist or something, maybe, but I think terrorists are to the extreme anyway."

"That's the United States. We are Japan."

"That doesn't make any difference!" Naeko pounded her fist onto her desk and stood up, glaring at the boy. It was deathly silent in the room as the students waited in silent exuberance. No one had stood up to Light before when it came to academics. Even Yakatome was waiting with wide eyes, wishing he could tape this debate and put it on youtube.

The brown-haired boy slowly rotated his head so that he was looking directly at Naeko. For a moment, the girl's breathing hitched, and she caught herself looking with wide eyes. Then, a calming sense washed over her, allowing her to become rather stoic again, hiding most of her emotion. One emotion she kept out, however, and that was to aid her in her quest for a verbal victory. The boy's voice erupted into her ears, bringing her back to the real world.

"It doesn't matter anyway, because Aesop made up the story. None of that could really happen. A wolf would never be smart enough to use a disguise, and a normal shepherd wouldn't be able to kill a wolf by just touching it."

Naeko frowned, and sat back down. She was utterly defeated. What a sorry loss. In a last defense, she retorted quietly, "Fine. Go murder someone, so that we can put you on trial and tell you what we think should happen to you. We won't kill you, that's what'll happen. We'll throw you in jail to rot for 50 some years, and then we'll let you out 35 years earlier than we planned because we're all jackasses that can't think worth a damn. What's wrong with the world is that people who do serious crimes can get out of jail much faster than someone who got thrown into jail for no reason. The world is fucked up, I'm telling you. Fucked up, and I wish someone would stand up above all of us and just fix it." Naeko sighed, and the boy gave her a queer look. In the end...Naeko 1, Mystery Boy 0.

When Yakatome determined that the "debate" was over, he continued with the class, calling on everyone but Light and Naeko. Luckily, the class period was almost up anyway by the time the debate had officially ended, and Yakatome barely got to ask any more questions, because he was busy coaxing answers out of the students he called on. The bell rang, and classes switched. Oh, Naeko could tell it was going to be a very long day...

"Oh, and Mr. Yagami, would you mind showing Ms. Menshi around the school? I know you usually go home right after school, so could you spare a little time for her?" Yakatome looked at Light, confirming that his request was not that of a question, but of a command. Light nodded, and Mr. Yakatome smiled. "Alright then, I'll see you all later!"

...and that day just got a helluva lot worse...

---boo!---

Alright, anyone else think that this chapter was too short? Please review, I'd love to know you think of the second chapter! The next chapter will get more in-depth of the relationship between Light and Naeko. Friend or foe? Only I know what'll happen! Muahaha!! That shouldn't stop you from reviewing, though! So please do!


	3. Chapter 3

Ello everyone! I'm very happy some of you are enjoying my story so far! And I'm also glad one special reviewer pointed out that I was keeping Light's personality in check! That's a big goal for me. So, I wasn't entirely sure how to start out this chapter, so I'm going to wing it. Not exactly what I expected at first, but it's somewhat close.

Inspiration for this chapter: piano sheet music (it calms and soothes me when I play it, making my stress just ooze away!)

----sheet music----

"I hate this," Naeko declared, not that Light would care. She had learned his name, oh yes. Naeko had made it a point to learn as much about his as she could. Although, fan girls only know so much. Luckily, being the new girl had its advantages.

"I'm sure you do," the light-haired boy replied, not looking up from the book he was currently reading. Naeko scowled and turned away, facing the chalkboard.

"Well? Aren't you going to show me around?" Naeko finally asked, dissolving the silence that had filled the room. Although the silence hadn't been all that uncomfortable, Naeko was a very bossy person when time was a matter, and if her guide was just going to sit at his desk and read a library book, she wasn't going to wait up. Turning so that she was facing Light again, Naeko stared diligently at the boy until he looked up. Light brown eyes met startling green ones.

"No," was the boy's simple answer. "I hate this just as much as you do. Also, I have places I need to be."

"Sure you do," Naeko almost snorted. _Almost_. "that's why you're sitting peacefully at your desk wasting your own time, and mine as well. What are you reading, anyway?" When Light ignored her once more, Naeko huffed and stomped over to the boy's desk and tipped his book up with one hand to read the title on the cover. This seemed to annoy the boy, but she only caught the emotion out of the corner of her eye, so she wasn't entirely sure. "It says, "Criminals' Minds: What They Will and Won't Do". Why are you reading a book like this?"

Light closed the book and leaned back in his seat. "I don't have to answer that," he said slowly, debating how much he was willing to put on the line to shut this annoying girl up.

"Aw, geez. I was just wondering." Silence. "You know, that was a good point you had earlier."

Light looked up at the girl beside him. Her chocolate-colored bangs hid her eyes, a trick hat worked with most embarrassed people. He encountered it a lot when girls tried to ask him out. He found words slipping out of his mouth and wondered when he had allowed them to come out. "No, you were partly right also." A feeling of dismay washed over him, and then he decided that their talk had gone on long enough. "Come on, I'll show you the rooms on our way to the door."

Naeko nodded, and Light picked up his backpack. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to latch it, and its contents spilled out onto the floor. He and Naeko were immediately on the floor - hands and knees – to collect the spilled papers and books. Naeko picked up a red spiral-bound notebook and several papers before her gaze rested on a black notebook with the words "Death Note" written on it. She reached for it before Light could see it, and picked it up, examining it more closely.

"Don't touch that!" Light practically yelled. He grabbed the death note from Naeko's grasp and stuffed it into his open backpack, knowing he was already too late. She had touched it. Naeko's confused look, mixed with hurt, made him sigh and lie, "It's a diary, of sorts. I have a lot of secrets in there, and I don't – or didn't – want you to find out."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Naeko's downcast gaze made Light twitch, but only a little. He had dealt with girls like her before, so why was he reacting differently to her? It just didn't make sense to him.

"Don't be," he replied gruffly. "Come on, I'll walk you home. You live in Kanto, don't you?"

"Un. You just have to go past the park and turn down that street. Well, I guess that's how you get to my house, I'm not all that good at directions. And really, it's not even my house. I'm staying with my uncle and his wife for now." Naeko could have smacked herself in the head right then. Like Light cared where she lived. God, she had just made a total fool of herself.

Light raised an elegant eyebrow. "Really? Hm, that sounds close to where I live. Did you just get here last night?"

It was Naeko's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Yeah, why?" Light just shrugged and waited as Naeko stepped out into the bright sunlight. "Thank you," she added, referring to Light's polite gesture of opening the door for her.

"Welcome. Well, it's just that late last night my neighbor's got a visitor, and even though there's a very small possibility, I thought that visitor might have been you."

"Really?" Naeko seemed a little surprised. "Well, we'll just have to see. I only know how to get to the house from the park, so we should probably go that way first."

Light nodded, and then tried to make casual conversation. "So, why can you only get to your aunt's house from the park? Shouldn't you be able to figure it out if you know where the park is?"

Naeko chuckled lightly. "Well, I haven't been here, in this town, for 10 years. Not just that, but I never went to the park by myself. My sister usually went with me, but when she was busy I asked a neighbor boy to go with me. He usually went with me too, but when his baby sister was born, he stayed in a lot more. So, because I never actually had to know where it was, it's a bit amazing I remembered how to get to it today."

"And because you took your time finding it, you were late to school?" Light reasoned. Naeko nodded, and Light looked down the street. "I also went to the park when I was young, but I didn't have many friends living around me, so the times that my neighbor's niece would come over were nice. She was around my age, and I don't know because I never asked, and I was never told. Anyway, I took her to the park on most of the sunny, bright days. On days that it was too bad out to leave the house, we'd stay at one house or the other and play boards games all day. I started seeing her a lot less, though, when her older sister became sick, and then died in a car accident."

"That's sad," Naeko said quietly, and Light glanced over at the girl.

"Yeah, I suppose it was pretty sad. I haven't thought about it for a while, but I think that was the last time I saw my friend. Because of their eldest daughter's accident, the girl's parents shipped her off to America. Oh, look, we're here." Light motioned to the side f the sidewalk, and Naeko looked past him to see the fence around the park.

"Ah! Look, it's really empty here!" Naeko said joyfully. The girl ran ahead to the entrance of the gate and immediately dropped her book bag on the ground, running towards the swings. She pounced on the swings, working to get to a good height before Light had even entered the entrance.

"This brings back old memories," Naeko said wistfully. Light just sat his book bag next to hers and mounted the swing next to the one Naeko was currently inhabiting. A sudden bout of curiosity hit her, and Naeko found herself asking, "Hey Light, do you remember the girl's name? You know, the girl who you always spent so much time with?"

"That's what's bothering me," Light murmured. "I loved her like a sister, but I just can't find her name anywhere in my brain." Naeko frowned, and then sighed, slowing down her swing in the process.

"Oh well. It's a bit funny, but I can't seem to remember my friend's name either. It's just like everything after _that_ was wiped from my mind."

Light seemed to be mildly interested in the upcoming topic, but Naeko jumped off the swing, landing on her feet. "Come on, I think I've spent more than enough of your time. I'm gonna go home now. See ya!" Naeko picked up her backpack from the ground and waved goodbye before exiting the park.

"Aw, why are you leaving so soon?" Naeko could have sworn it was coming from Light's direction, but the voice was not his. Naeko, confused, turned around in her tracks and almost screamed.

"W-W-what t-the h-h-hell?" she uttered, gazing up into the red eyes of Ryuk. "What the h-hell are y-you?" she asked, shrinking just a miniscule amount.

"I see the death note is finally catching up to you. I wondered when you'd be able to see me." Naeko gasped, not entirely believing what she was seeing.

"Naeko, this is Ryuk," Light said, walking up the sidewalk to join the two others. "Do you remember that black notebook I told you not to touch earlier? Well, it's not a normal notebook, and Ryuk is actually the shinigami who…_watches_ over it."

"H-How can you s-say that so damn calmly?" Naeko shouted, pointing a horrified finger at Light. The boy seemed unfazed.

"Watch what you say, girl, only you and Light can hear me, or see me for that matter." Ryuk said, hovering around Naeko, inspecting her with those daunting red eyes of his.

Light sighed, raising a hand to push up some unruly bangs. "This is going to be troublesome. Naeko, maybe I should explain a few things to you."

"Yes, please do!" Naeko demanded, stomping her foot down.

Light look around, noticing the young couple heading down the street towards them. "Maybe it would be best if we went to a more secluded place. The death note is not to be taken lightly, and I don't want any of its secrets spilling out. If anyone finds out that I am the legendary Kira—"

"Fine! We can come to my house! Just hurry up!" Naeko pulled Light by the cuff of his school uniform, catching the boy by surprise. Ryuk followed faithfully as the two students ran up the sidewalk, heading in the direction of Naeko's aunt's house.

"Hm… this could get interesting. I wonder if there will be apples?"

---apples---

Alright, gomenasai, gomenasai. I'm sincerely sorry it took a while for me to update. I recently got hooked on an anime called Kyou Kara Maou, and I really, really, REALLY, want to do a fanfic on it, but I know I'd be pairing up Wolf and Yuuri, cause I luv the pairing! Plus, you guys would kill me. How many fics have I started that weren't even on my list? Um, 3 or 4 in a row?

Uh, rereading this, I realize it's seriously short. Although, I didn't really reread it, I just glanced over for obvious mistakes. Again, sorry.

So yeah, put me on author alert. Cause you never know what I'll do next. -


	4. Chapter 4

Yay! A snow day! I've really been putting off this story a lot, but rereading this chapter, I feel like I should start working on it again!

So yeah, I'm going to put up the standard disclaimer and actually work, instead of putting it off like I usually do. So, I don't own. Wait, I want to make this a bit more humorous.

Roses are red, violets are blue,

I don't own this shit,

But neither do you!

---humor?---

Naeko closed the door to her bedroom with a satisfying click. Luckily, her uncle had been at work and her aunt had gone shopping, so sneaking Light into the house hadn't been all too hard. The taller boy now stood in the middle of her room, unsure whether to take a seat or to remain standing. Ryuk had plopped down on the bed like he owned it, but not before looking around a bit to familiarize himself with the room.

"Now, care to explain?" Naeko said, gesturing from Light to Ryuk and vise versa. Light sighed and pulled out the death note, handing it to Naeko.

"There are instructions on how to use the death note on the first page." Naeko took the book and flinched after reading the first few sentences. Reading further, she finished the instructions and went on to flipped through the covered pages Light had filled with names.

"Well, you sure have been busy, haven't you?" Naeko said sarcastically. She knew a few of the names from television and newspapers, but most of them didn't ring any bells. Light made a small noise of agreement. Naeko looked up to see him staring at her, and her face immediately contorted to that of annoyance. "Could you stop looking at me like that? It's creeping me out."

Naeko sighed and handed the death note back to Light, who accepted it but didn't put it back into his school bag. "So, what do you think?" Ryuk asked, watching Naeko from the edge of her own bed.

Naeko thought for a moment before waving a hand dismissively. "I don't know if I can believe it," she admitted. "But if it_ is_ real, I don't want to be proven wrong. Killing an innocent person is just wrong, and I don't think a silly notebook can do anything anyway."

"Yes, but this is a shinigami notebook," Light said calmly. "It has special powers that humans would never have on their own."

"I still don't want to believe you," Naeko said stubbornly. "Besides, what would any normal, sane person do with a killing notebook?"

Light took a moment before he answered. "That person could create a new world," he said softly. "A world devoid of criminals and wrong-doers. A world where only the pure and loyal were allowed to live without fear of pain and suffering."

Naeko looked surprised for a moment, and then she contemplated the boy's words. "But, in order to get that pure world, you have to have a mass murder spree!" she concluded, a shrill tone edging into her voice. "I agree that a world like the one you described would be wonderful, how many people do you think are _really_ pure? There are plenty of people in the world who have done small things, like stealing on accident, or accidentally defacing or breaking something."

Light scowled. "How do you _accidentally_ steal something?"

Naeko thought for a moment again before slamming a fist into the palm of her hand. "I know!" she said enthusiastically. "When we were little, my mom took me and my friend shopping. When we found a box of bracelets, my mom said that we could each pick one out, but I couldn't find one I liked, so I just helped my friend pick one out. My friend was so thrilled, she immediately put it on. But when we got to the checkout, we had already totally forgotten about the bracelets, and the door alert didn't beep when she walked through. So she sort of _accidentally_ stole the bracelet. See?" Naeko asked, happy she had been able to think of a good example.

"The girl has a point," Ryuk said, looking to Light to see the boy's reaction. Naeko looked to Light also, and realized the boy was having some sort of internal struggle.

Finally, Lights response came as a gruff admit of defeat. "I suppose that a case like that could be overlooked, but later, did your friend ever think of giving the bracelet back to the store, or going back to pay for it?"

Naeko laughed a little, nervous, laugh. "Well, we were sort of only passing through the city, so she really didn't get a chance to go back. Otherwise, I'm sure she would have"

Light nodded, satisfied. Ryuk felt his stomach rumble a little, so he rudely asked, "Hey girl, got any apples? I'm starving!"

Naeko look at Ryuk, and then at Light, thoroughly confused. "Apples?" she questioned, as though she hadn't quite heard the shinigami correctly. Light sighed and put a timid hand on Naeko's shoulder.

"Come on, I'll go with you to the kitchen." Ryuk smirked gracefully, positive that Light intended to do something dirty while he wasn't watching.

"I'll be waiting, so hurry back up!" Ryuk said as the two teens left into the hall a moment later. Ryuk snickered and then glanced out of Naeko's bedroom window. He was surprised to find Naeko's window was right across from Light's. _What kind of game is the guy upstairs playing? Trying to get the two together, is he? _

Meanwhile, Light and Naeko were heading downstairs, Naeko leading the way. Light had only been in the neighbors' house a few times, and that was only when he stopped by to see if they would buy for a school fundraiser. Well, that was one of the times, but he couldn't remember the one other time he knew he had been there. It had been a time he didn't want to remember, that was for sure, because the memory was locked up tight in the back of his head. He could remember several people wearing black, most of whom he didn't know, and then he was hugging a little girl tightly. The girl was crying, and he was trying to comfort her but her tears just kept coming. Something vibrated against his chest, and he knew the girl was talking into his shirt, but he couldn't hear the words she was saying. Those were locked up too, just as tight as the rest of the memories were.

"…Awake? Hello? Anyone there?" Light shook his head, not realizing he had spaced out for the whole walk down to the kitchen.

"Oh, sorry. I was just…trying to think of something." Light smiled to Naeko, who just gave the guy a look that clearly said he was crazy.

"Well, whatever. If you want something to drink, you can grab a coke or a glass of juice from the fridge. I'll wash the apples once I find them…" Naeko glanced around the kitchen, trying to think of where it was her aunt always used to keep the apples and other delicious fruits.

"You don't know where they are?" Light asked, a small smirk set at the edge of his mouth.

"No," Naeko answered back almost immediately. "I just got here last night, and I went to bed almost immediately. Woke up, had breakfast…never questioning where anything came from. I bet you don't even know where the Windex is in your own house."

Light opened his mouth to answer, but then realized he had to think. They kept most of the cleaning supplies in the hall closet, but because he never really used anything but the broom and duster, and because some of the supplies were spread across the household, it was hard to tell where the window cleaner was.

"It's hard to tell," he answered, giving neither a yes nor a no to the question. Naeko rolled her eyes and opened a nearby cabinet, hoping there was a basket of fruit inside. No luck.

"Well, if you aren't going to get anything to drink, why don't you help me look?" Light made a secret look of disdain at the girl's back, and decided he wouldn't help in any way, shape, or form.

"Actually, I think I'll get a glass of water. Where are the cups?" the boy asked, leaning nonchalantly against the kitchen counter. Naeko threw him a furious look over her shoulder and Light smirked, glad to know he was the one to cause Naeko's fury and wrath. Although, he didn't honestly like the idea of the wrath being directed at him.

"Look. For. It. Your. Self." Naeko ground out. She slammed the cabinet doors shut and moved on to the pantry. It was Light's turn to roll his eyes – a very childish action he rarely expressed – and then flipped around to search through the hanging cabinets for a small glass he could put his water in. Not that he really wanted the water itself. It was just too much fun to watch this girl frustrate herself even more. Opening up a cupboard, Light found that luck was his today. Reaching up and grabbing a clear crystal juice cup, Light closed the cabinet and walked over to the sink, filling up the glass to its edge before deciding to check in on Naeko. It had been a while since she sighed, yelled, or just made any sort of noise.

Light moved to the pantry door just as Naeko was coming out. The two collided, and Light's glass fell to of his hand, shattering on the tile floor and sending glass shards and water everywhere. Light and Naeko stayed where they were, both having no shoes on and not wanting to step on any of the sharp crystal pieces.

"I'm sorry," Light said as he stretched to reach a hand-towel hanging off on the nearby stove. (You know how some stoves have those bars? Yeah, it was there, just so that you guys don't think I'm trying to burn anything down or anything…) Bending down, Light managed to wipe up a small area for the two to move around in safely.

"No, it's fine," Naeko replied. She just watched as Light moved around, trying to create a pathway to the living room. Naeko followed him, hoping to reach the broom by the kitchen door, but she accidentally slipped on a patch of water that Light hadn't gotten to and fell.

"Ouch! Dammit…"

"Naeko, are you okay?" Light asked. He had abandoned his previous job and was now hovering over the fallen girl, hand extended to help her up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Naeko took Light's hand and was about to pull herself up, but Light realized he had stepped in the same puddle of water Naeko had. Another moment and it was too late. With little traction on the wet ground, Light came tumbling down with a slight tug of Naeko's hand.

"Gah!" Naeko shouted as Light's form fell over her, partially covering her wet body. "Couldn't you have been a bit more graceful as you squished me into mush?" she yelled, pounding onto Light's back with her free arm.

"Will you shut up?" Light asked, pushing himself up. "It's not like I purposefully spilled my water so I could fall on you!"

Naeko pouted and then looked into Light's serious, brown eyes. A memory flashed through her head of a boy with the same brown eyes, but she shook her head thoroughly and the painful memory faded away. "Get off," she demanded.

"Why should I?" Light seethed. He _did not_ take orders from _anyone_. If he was going to be the god of a new world, then he had to act like one.

In that case, why was he laying on the kitchen floor of a person he had just met, in a very suggestive position?

"Naeko darling, I'm home!" Naeko paled when she heard her aunt's overly peppy voice coming in through the front door. Damn. Why did the kitchen have to be so easily viewable from the living room?

"What are you…doing?" Naeko's aunt asked as she stepped into the kitchen, several large paper shopping bags in hand.

"Um, well, you see…"

"OH! I'm so happy! Already my popular little Naeko-chan has made a "friend"! Oh! But you probably shouldn't do anything down here; your uncle should be coming home soon! Why don't you two go up to Naeko-chan's bedroom. Just don't do anything you'll regret, okay?" Mayako winked, and Naeko and Light both felt their faces reach new levels of red.

"Um, Mayako, you should really watch where you're stepping. I dropped a glass and it shattered, not to mention there's a lot of water you can _slip_ on…"

Mayako caught the meaning of the emphasized word and covered her mouth with a hand to stifle her laughter. "Ah, little Naeko, the trouble you get into! I'll clean up the mess, if you two want to get to a safe haven before Yuki darling gets home…"

Naeko thanked her aunt and started to follow an embarrassed Light out of the kitchen, but then she remembered the real reason she had come down. Stealthily glancing in each of Mayako's shopping bags, she easily found the small green bag of apples and stole one, planning to wash it in her bathroom sink. Hopping up the stairs once more, Naeko entered her bedroom and met face-to-face with a grinning Ryuk.

"Light told me everything," Ryuk said, the grin spreading on his face. Naeko's eyes shifted to Light, who was farther in the room, with his back turned to her. Naeko grit her teeth and threw the unclean apple at Light's back. Fortunately, it didn't shatter. Unfortunately, Light spun around with vengeance in his eyes.

Grabbing a dress quickly from her closet, Naeko ran into the bathroom to change out of her wet uniform, closing the door right as the apple connected with the wood. Naeko could hear Ryuk complaining to Light about how he wasted a "perfectly good apple", and the girl snickered. Light was actually a pretty funny person if you could break him out of his shell.

As Naeko changed, she made a promise to herself that she would keep Light out of his shell as long as she could. Maybe, just maybe…it might do him some good.

---so cute!---

How kawaii?! Ah, I ended this chapter in such a bad way...(sigh)...oh well. Just be glad I updated! I want to make use of a nice snowday!


	5. Chapter 5

Wee…I almost got a virus…wee… What a stupid computer…I had to shut it off so that the pop-ups would stop coming…LOL. But I'm back! Ready to work really hard on this next chapter!

I don't own…I PWN!

---pwnith---

Naeko stepped carefully out of the bathroom, clad in a little blue dress that was about the length of her school uniform, if not shorter. She guessed it had been her aunt's, because there was no way _she_ would ever wear it. Damn her for reaching into her closet blindly! It was just an apple! She could have taken a hit! Now she was stuck in this stupid dress, and she would seem vain if she changed _again_.

"About time," Ryuk growled from the bed. "We thought you had died and come back to life in that bathroom."

"Well I'm sorry I kept you waiting!" Naeko growled back. Her wet uniform was flung into a hamper in the corner and Naeko plopped down into her desk chair. "Where's Light?"

"He went home."

"WHAT? What makes him think he can just waltz out of here?" Naeko immediately stood up out of her chair again, and Ryuk grinned. "I mean, doesn't he have any respect?"

"He left you the death note," Ryuk said lightly. "It means he's willing to accept you as his partner in crime, if only for now. I'd be on his good side, girl. Light can write down your name at any time, and you can write down his. But, I don't think you want to lose a childhood friend like him."

Naeko blinked. "A…childhood friend? I don't think I've met Light before, so there's no way he can be a friend from when I lived in this town." Gently lowering herself back down into her chair, Naeko turned around and tapped her fingers on the wooden desk. "Although…I remember I had a friend who looked a little like him when I was younger. He would always take me to the park and swing me on the swings…most of the time we played hide and seek…but when she died…"

"Oh dear, you've had a dramatic past, haven't you?" Ryuk uttered. It was hard to tell whether he was trying to be sympathetic or just a sadistic smart-ass.

Naeko smiled sadly and looked at the shinigami on her bed. "Yeah, I guess I have. I don't think that boy was Light, though. Light has a little sister, doesn't he?" Ryuk nodded the affirmative. "Well, if she's not that much younger than him, the friend in my memories can't have been Light. _His_ mother was pregnant, but we had all heard it was going to be a boy."

"Doctors are often wrong these days," Ryuk said, a chuckle following. "Why don't you just admit it was Light? Everything adds up."

"Because! I don't want to admit it! The boy in my memories was kind, thoughtful…not a power-hungry mass murderer!" Naeko felt the tears sting her eyes, and she was glad her back was faced to Ryuk. A place in her heart ached when she called Light those bad words, but it was only there for a fleeting moment.

There was silence in the room for a while, the only sounds were of Naeko sniffling and trying to hold back her tears. She hadn't cried in…how many years? And she was crying over some stupid, unreal boy! She felt like a slut who had just had her favorite "client" break up with her. And she didn't even know why. Naeko had never cried over a boy before.

She had sworn that day that she would never cry again. Her older sister had been sitting in that mahogany coffin. Her sister had always told her never to cry. She had said it was unbecoming of her, but because Naeko had been so young she didn't know what the word "unbecoming" meant. A sudden, random thought hit Naeko, making her eyes widen in shock.

Wait a second. Earlier, she had told Ryuk that her friend's mother had been pregnant, and they were expecting a boy. But she remembered that at the baby-shower, she had seen the color pink around a lot. Does that mean…

"Ryuk…how old is Light's sister?" Ryuk thought for a moment before he replied, because he honestly didn't know the exact age.

"Well, I would say she is about 13 or 14. All I know for sure is that she is in the 8th grade, because she comes to Light often for help on math and such, and her hardback says "Pre-algebra 8th Grade Level" on the front."

"I'd have been there…" Naeko mumbled.

"Been there for what?" Ryuk actually sounded genuinely interested, but Naeko just laughed and shook her head.

"No, it's nothing. I just keep getting my thoughts confused. Move, I want to lay down." Naeko stood up and Ryuk scootched over so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed, not entirely wanting to give up a magnificently comfortable spot. Naeko flung herself onto the bed and curled up into a ball. "Leave. Go back to wherever it is you spend the night. I'm going to bed."

"Actually, I usually stay at the owner of the death note's house, and since you have the death note—"

"No way in hell. Leave. Go back to Light's house. He's _one_ of the owners."

"Fine, fine, I'll leave. But, before I go, I would advise you to hide the death note. If another human touches it…" Naeko lifted her head and listened intently. What would Ryuk do?

"I would have to kill them. Now, it wouldn't be pleasant if your aunt or uncle wandered in here to clean, now, would it?"

Naeko frowned and sat up all the way. Swinging her legs off of the bed, she stood and walked over to the desk. Picking up the notebook, Naeko gazed at it before clutching it close to her and walking back over to the bed. "It'll be fine as long as I don't leave it out in the open," she said, hugging the notebook tightly to her chest.

"Whatever you say," Ryuk laughed, disappearing through the bedroom door so that he could head on back to Light's house. Naeko frowned, haunted by Ryuk's last words.

Meanwhile, Ryuk was snickering as he passed silently through the Menshi household. _I think Light will get a real kick out of this girl, _he thought. _Plus all the help they are getting from upstairs…there's a real possibility the two could fall in love. Che! The very thought make me sick. Shinigami are supposed to kill, not fall in love. Although, that would be pretty funny to see. So far, Light has only used women to his advantage in his schemes. Now that there's a girl that knows of those schemes, what shall the boy do now?_

Appearing in Light's room, Ryuk immediately settled down at the edge of the bed. Light's surprised voice rang out. "Ryuk? I thought you decided to stay at Naeko's home?"

"That stupid girl kicked me out. It looks like she's willing to protect the death note's secret, though. Which means she'll probably play right into your hands."

Light stared at the ceiling as he listened to the greedy tone in Ryuk's voice. "No. I don't think I'll use her. Something tells me that if I mess with her, I'll get burned."

"Oh? You know, she's having quite the internal struggle over you." Seeing that he had perked Light's attention, Ryuk continued. "I was talking to her earlier, and she can't seem to decide whether she's met you or not."

"It's her. I just know it is," Light said quietly. "There's no mistaking it. The timeline, her sister, being sent to America…there's just no way I can ignore it anymore. She's my neighbor's niece, the one that would always come over to play. While we were heading down to the kitchen, I remembered something. I remembered the day of her sister's funeral. She was clinging to me, crying so hard I could feel the sobs racking her body. And then…" Light just slowly lowered the volume of his voice, and Ryuk was getting impatient.

"And then what?"

"And then she was saying something to me. I can't remember those words, even though I so desperately want to…"

"Eh, you'll remember them later," Ryuk said, shrugging Light's disturbed words off.

"You're right," Light said, lifting his head and then slamming it back into the pillow. "I think for now I should get some rest. Although, I have to say I'm a bit pissed."

Ryuk chuckled, hearing the usually calm boy swear. "Oh? And why's that?"

"That girl has the death note, and I didn't get any names written down today."

"Is that the only reason?"

"…yeah."

"What a stupid reason."

"You think so?"

"You humans are so trivial."

Light laughed a little. "Whatever. Goodnight, Ryuk."

"Goodnight, Light."

_I wonder, Light. Will you ever be__ her__ light? Would you be willing to light the road she must walk to stay with you? It's a hard road as a shinigami. Are you sure you want that for her?_

_Are you sure you won't fall in love?_

---love---

BAM! Yes! I absolutely_ loved_ the ending! Woot! Somehow, Ryuk's thoughts are a tad bit corny! LOL! Yet another cool chapter, even if it's a bit short! It was mostly the internal battles between the two shinigamis, and you just KNOW Ryuk's going to chose sides. So, to sum it up…

Naeko thinks Light might be her childhood friend, but she's not willing to believe it or doesn't want to admit it.

Light's accepted the fact that Naeko is the girl he once saw as a little sister, but he's having a hard time admitting it to anyone but himself.

Ryuk's sure that someone is trying to make the two an item, and we aren't entirely sure whether he supports it or not. But we can be sure as hell that he'd beat Light's ass if Light dared to hurt Naeko emotionally. Writing her name down is still allowed, you know.

Please keep reading! I know I've been neglecting this story, and I want to make it up to you guys! Review, and for the number of reviews I get, I'll write that many pages. So, 5 reviews equals 5 pages of scrumptious, lovey-dovey action! Um, but 20 or more isn't allowed, and I'll just split it up into two different chapters! Although I doubt I'll get that many reviews for such a lame story…(sigh)


	6. Chapter 6

Crap. (sweatdrop) I know as I was corresponding with one of you lovely reviewers, I said I only had to do 5 pages, but now it's grown to 7! I'll save any other reviews for the next chapter. 7 is a nice number, don't you think?

Also, I'm so glad I finally got some creative criticism! Somehow, it gets boring reading the three-word "This is great," reviews. Thank you again!

I don't own this, and aren't you so glad I don't?

---(cough) yes---

"Naeko! Naeko darling, time to get up!" Mayako's voice pierced through the dark silence of Naeko's dreams.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Naeko grumbled back. She could hear Mayako chuckling behind her bedroom door. That chuckling just made Naeko's internal groan even longer and louder.

"Well, when you're dressed, come downstairs and have breakfast!" Naeko made a noise of agreement and covered her eyes with her arm, amazed that the sun had come up so early in the morning.

"Curse these stupid curtains…curse early mornings…curse the stupid, bright sun…" Naeko sighed and stopped her complaining, if only for a moment. Swinging her legs off of the bed, Naeko unraveled the blankets from around her legs and heard something thunk as it hit the floor. Leaning over, Naeko saw the death note lying on the floor, looking like the completely innocent notebook she knew it wasn't. Picking up the notebook, she flipped through all the full pages, trying to imagine what had possessed Light to do so much bad.

_Oh, that's right. He said something about creating an innocent world, devoid of criminals and the likes. Can he really do it, though? Could he really kill all the bad people in the world? I think I'm doubting it right now, even if the thought seems nice. _

Naeko put the notebook under her pillow with a small sigh of thought. Standing up, she headed over to the closet and grabbed her spare uniform, her first one still slightly damp from her adventures in the kitchen last night. Changing in the bathroom, she brushed her hair and washed her face, waiting to brush her teeth until after she ate.

Running down the stairs, Naeko joined her uncle at the kitchen table. Mayako was still cooking her eggs, but when they were done she slid them onto a plate and placed the plate in front of Naeko.

"So, Naeko," Yuki began, his deep voice drawling out as though he was pondering his words carefully, "I heard from Mayako that you have already made friends. Is that true?"

Naeko looked up from her plate. "Oh, um, yes. It's just the neighbor boy, Light, though. He offered to walk me home, even though he didn't know we lived right next to him. I honestly thought we wouldn't be able to become friends, because we got into a big debate in the middle of class yesterday, and I thought he might be mad at me for standing up to him. I guess he didn't care much, though, because we made up and were actually able to have a pleasant talk."

"I see," Yuki said, going back to his newspaper.

"Darling, I don't see how you and Light could not be friends. You used to hang out so much while you were still living here, especially with Hisa—"

Naeko stood up immediately, shocking both her aunt and uncle. "Please…don't say her name so easily in front of me…" Naeko left the rest of her breakfast, silently walking out of the kitchen to go back upstairs. She didn't hear her aunt's pleas for her to come back and finish her breakfast. Not only had they said Hisa's name, they had also proven what Naeko had thought so hard about last night.

There was no way she would admit it. Naeko had _not_ met Light before, and she had most _definitely _not been his childhood friend. Hisa had been her only good friend, and once she had died, there was no point in going out to play anymore. There was no reason to do anything special, or to go out of your way just to get a scoop of nice, cool ice cream.

As Naeko brushed her teeth, she gazed into the mirror. Everyone that had ever met her sister told her that they looked amazingly alike. Naeko thought it wasn't so. Her sister, who had had beautiful honey-colored long hair, with the deepest green eyes, had always been the most beautiful girl on the street. Naeko was such a plain Jane, with dull brown hair and ordinarily-colored green eyes. Even so, Naeko had only once wished she looked like her sister. Her sister's beauty was not to be questioned, and Naeko had always admired without jealousy. Even now, as she analyzed herself, Naeko was purely glad to look like herself, and not some beauty goddess like her deceased sister.

Brushing her hair up into a messy ponytail, Naeko smiled at her reflection in the mirror, a sad and miniscule smile, meant only for herself. Hisa would have never even thought of having her hair up in such a messy hairdo.

Then again, Hisa would've never thought she wouldn't see another day if she just walked off the sidewalk to gather a few escaped papers. Hisa had not lived up to her name. Hisa had not been long-lasting. She had become a fleeting memory in Naeko's shocked brain.

Gathering the death note up from under her pillow, Naeko stared at the notebook for a long while before she placed it in her backpack and clasped it close. Walking downstairs for the second time that morning, Naeko barely registered the words her aunt said to her before she opened the door and left.

Naeko walked down the street slowly, placing one foot in front of the other. Her mind wasn't registering where she was going, just that she was moving, and that the air outside was crisp and chilly, blowing her hair and clothes around in the strong breeze. Naeko soon got into a rhythm that for every step she took, her bag swung in her right hand. Step, swing, step, swing. It was a lulling rhythm, and she couldn't figure out why it suddenly stopped.

Raising her head as though she was in a trance, Naeko looked up and found that she had walked all the way to the park. Blinking a few times, she entered the park through the gate and sat down on a swing, placing her bag on the ground next to her.

Naeko sat on the swing, pondering random thoughts until she realized why her feet had brought her here. This was where _she_ had died. Her sister, Hisa, had stepped off the road to get a few fly-away papers, and then…

Naeko rested her head in her hands, biting her lip in an attempt to stop the overflowing tears. Why was she acting like such a crybaby?

"Naeko?" she heard a soft voice ask. Ashamed to be caught with tears in her eyes, Naeko shrugged her shoulders over and curled up into a smaller ball.

"Go away," she said quietly, hoping her sobs wouldn't show in her voice. The crunch of gravel and the squeak of the hinges on the gate alerted her to the person's presence coming closer. Right now, that was the last thing she wanted.

"You're going to be late to school again," the voice said. Naeko wiped away her tears and looked up momentarily, surprised to see the kind face of her cab driver, Kenji.

"K-Kenji? What are you doing here? And how did you know I was late yesterday?" Naeko stood up from the swings after grabbing her bag and went to stand by Kenji. Somehow, his presence was warming.

"I'm in the classroom next to yours, and yesterday during break, rumors had already started circulating about how you were late on your first day of class, and how Mr. Yakatome let you and Light have a discussion in the middle of his class."

"Eh? The rumors have already spread? Darn, that's depressing." Naeko laughed a little, causing Kenji to laugh with her. Suddenly, Kenji stopped laughing and looked down on Naeko.

"Speaking of depressing, why were you crying?" Naeko stopped laughing also, instead deciding to cast her gaze upon the ground in front of her, watching her feet as she walked in sync with Kenji. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I was just wondering…"

"I remembered a lot of stuff from when my sister was still alive. She died on the street in front of the park, and I was remembering…"

Naeko blinked, her eyes wide. Kenji had stopped and then hugged her from behind, bringing his head down so that he could whisper in her ear. "I'm sorry. Please, don't say any more. Cheer up. You don't look very becoming when you cry."

Naeko twitched. That was what _she _had said. Not in the exact words, but somewhat close. Enough to trigger the memory to come back and haunt her for a few daunting moments. Naeko shifted in Kenji's grasp, trying to decide whether to push him away or embrace him back. She wanted his comfort and his warmth, but every time she got close to someone, something came and broke everything she had worked on into little pieces.

She didn't want that. Not ever again. It had happened too many times, and her barely mended heart couldn't take it another time, not even if she had had the willpower and strength to fight against it.

"Kenji…we're going to be late to class," Naeko finally pointed out, trying not to let her disappointment show in her voice. Kenji took a step back after releasing Naeko, and shook his head, rubbing it with his palm.

"Sorry about that," the boy said sheepishly. Naeko just shook her head and continued walking, stopping only to look behind her after realizing the boy wasn't following, in a silence question of, "Are you coming?" Kenji smiled, looking deep in thought, and caught up to the girl, walking closely beside her.

"Say, Naeko, I usually have to run rounds on the cabs after school, but when I find a free day, would you like to go out shopping with me? I have to pick up a few things, and I hope you can get your mind off things."

Naeko thought for a moment. If she told her aunt it was a date and told her uncle it was a study group at a bookstore downtown, the plan might just work. Plus, Christmas was going to be sneaking up, and even if she didn't have a lover (**1**) it would be fun to buy presents for her friends and family. "Sure, that sounds alright with me. Just tell me what day, and I'll be there!"

Kenji smiled again before waving his hand and starting off in a different direction. "Well, right now I have club activities I have to attend to before school starts, so I'll see you later!"

"Bye Kenji!" Naeko said as she waved the boy off. Once he had gone down the path curving around the school and was out of sight, Naeko started walking again, heading to her first block class. She made it into her seat just before the bell rang, saving her from answering any stupid questions from her classmates.

"Hello again, class," Mr. Yakatome said, greeting his class with a grin-like smile. Truth be told, his first block class was probably his favorite, because they were usually well-behaved and tried their best to answer his tough questions. The class greeted him back, and then he started their lesson by asking, "Can anyone guess what we are going to talk about today? There is no need for text books, by the way, so you may put them away." The shuffling of text books being closed and placed on the edges of desks was the only noise that resonated in the room.

Bored, Naeko raised her hand and Mr. Yakatome nodded in her direction. "More fables?" she guessed. It didn't make sense to only have one day to go over what should take them a week to complete, and even then the class period had been taken up with her and Light's quarrel.

"Nope," Mr. Yakatome replied, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Today, we are going to talk about Kira. I figured that someone is probably documenting every day's news, so at this rate, Kira could become a legend or fable, just like that wolf."

"Um," a student asked, raising their hand, "I'm sorry, but isn't a fable _fictional_? Doesn't that mean Kira wouldn't be a fable, because they really were alive and did all these things?"

"Well, yes," Yakatome replied, "but that's why I also used "legend" as an example. Kira is an example of a legend, and the tale will probably be told years after this all ends and Kira dies."

Naeko glanced over to Light to see how he was taking all of this. To her surprise there was a small, sadistic grin on his face, but otherwise he was very stoic. It was hard to tell from across the room, however. Turning back to Yakatome, she was very surprised to hear the next words that came out of her teacher's mouth.

"And so, we are going to have a debate. Anyone is free to comment, but I'd actually love to hear the comments of Ms. Menshi and Mr. Yagami." A few dozen faces turned to stare at the mentioned students, and Naeko glared at anyone who looked at her with a smile on their face. That got them to turn around in their seats.

"So…who would like to start off the debate?" Mr. Yakatome looked around with a smile, and somehow Naeko had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Ms. Naeko, perhaps? You seemed to have a lot to say yesterday; maybe you are as knowledgeable on this topic as you are on fables?"

_Heh, if only you knew_. "Yes. I'd be so _glad _to start it off. Too bad I don't have anything to comment on." Naeko tried to make it sound like she wanted no part in the discussion, but then she had another idea. "Well…"

"Yes, go on," Yakatome encouraged. He had actually been giddy when he woke up that morning, so giddy because he could view another debate concerning his two smartest students.

"Well, I was just going to say that what Kira is doing is _hardly_ debatable. To some people what he is doing is right, and to others it is wrong. I'm somewhere…_in-between_, but I don't hold anything against Kira, and I certainly don't agree with what he is doing. Killing is killing, and I agree that we should find him and lock him up, but if he isn't killing innocent people but instead killing people that would have rotted in prison anyway, then I suppose the whole idea doesn't sound as bad."

"Ms. Menshi, you keep saying "he". How are you so sure it is a male?"

Naeko stared at Yakatome fully. "Gut instinct," she replied. "Besides, I think most girls would think things over a bit more before they decided to go on a killing spree. Although, Kira wouldn't be able to think things over properly if they had a condition - such as a mental function or something that would cause them to hallucinate and do crazy things."

Naeko didn't even _need_ to look over across the room. She could feel the murderous aura all the way from her own seat. How lucky was she that she had the death note? She would have probably keeled over by now if Light had had it. Well, she _was_ insulting him indirectly, and she knew he had a lot of pride. Naeko was beginning to think she had overdone her speech a little, and she was _definitely_ going to pay for it later.

"You know, Ms. Naeko, you are sounding very sexist right now," Light said through clenched teeth. Naeko was probably the only one who noticed the struggle the boy was having with himself. She could just imagine his thoughts then. 'Should I jump over the desks and kill her now, or wait and make her death slow and painful using the death note?'

Naeko frowned and shrugged. "I'm just stating the truth," she replied. "Which - seeing as how we have no evidence whatsoever on Kira's gender - is pretty substantial."

"You said it yourself. They have no evidence on Kira's gender. It could be a male OR female, and I'm sure if they created a way to kill so that not even the government could find out and track the method, I'd say they aren't so crazy after all." Light's voice had a hard edge to it. Naeko's frown deepened. This debate was not like yesterday's. She had had the upper hand then, because she had a firm set of beliefs and she could rely on those beliefs to guide her down the right path in life. But now that she was debating on Kira - _against_ Kira – she couldn't seem to think up anything witty or snappy to throw at her opponent.

"Are you going to reply, Ms. Menshi?" Yakatome asked after a minute of silence in which the entire class was silent and Naeko was thinking quickly. The class waited for a response, wondering if Naeko could come up with a single line that would ensure her victory.

Unfortunately, Naeko could come up with nothing. Sighing, she said, "No," and let her head rest on her desk with a small thud. "As far as I'm concerned, this debate is over. I can't get into anything if I don't know too much about it, or if I have no interest in it." _Or if I know too much and can't __say__ anything! That really ticks me off! Jeez, I guess I lost this debate. Light sure looks mad though. I hope he won't hold anything against me. Actually, he would have won anyway, even if I tried my best. Light is Kira, and he is fighting for a cause. It's like the Hessian soldiers in the American Revolution. They were hired on to fight, but because they wanted to go back to their home country they had no will to fight. No wonder the colonists won. They had a __cause__. They had a __purpose.__ They __wanted__ something. What do __I__ want? Do I even __have__ a cause? Am I here for some particular reason?_

In the end, it was Naeko: 1, Light: 1.

After that, the classroom felt oddly quiet. Even when someone was talking, there was an eerie sort of presence in the room. When the bell rang, Naeko jumped in her seat at the loud noise and then quickly gathered her books to take back to her locker. Her next class was in the Chemistry lab anyway, so she also had to get her Chemistry hardback and her notes that she had put in a folder she had had on hand, instead of her regular folder.

"Naeko, we need to talk." Naeko froze in her footsteps.

"What do you want, Light? I have to get to Chemistry!" Naeko trembled a little; the idea of coming face-to-face with an angry Light scared her quite a bit.

"The Chem lab is just down the hall, so we have time to talk. Although, it is still too busy out in the halls, so I have to ask you to find me during your lunch break. Understand?"

"Yes," Naeko squeaked. Fortunately, Light didn't sound too mad, but he had a cold tint in his voice. If there was any time he actually sounded like the cold-blooded killer he was, it was then. Naeko hurried on to her locker and then to her classroom, ignoring the stares she got from many of the other students who had hung around to watch the conversation between her and Light.

---skipping to lunch XD---

As Naeko shut her locker, she sighed and wondered where to look for Light first. Chemistry and Math had been quite boring, so she had had time to ponder where the boy might hide to get some privacy. She had a few good ideas, but then again the boy was quite queer and liked to do things out of the ordinary. It would be so like him to hide in the broad daylight, where anyone could see him.

"Hey, are you Naeko Menshi?" a younger girl asked, approaching Naeko carefully. Naeko nodded and the girl handed her a note, folded twice. "This is from upper-classman Light Yagami. He asked me to give it to you."

"Um, thank you." The girl bowed to Naeko and then jogged off down the hall, probably to meet a few of her friends or to eat lunch. Naeko looked down at the note and then – deciding it wouldn't bite her – unfolded it to reveal Light's nice, neat print.

_Naeko:_

_I'll be waiting on the roof. We have a few things to discuss._

"Aw, jeez. And today they were serving a really good lunch in the cafeteria too!" Naeko sighed and gave in to her fate, tearing up the note and dropping it in a trash can on the way to the stairs that would take her to the roof.

Climbing the steps, Naeko swung open the door and stepped outside, immediately starting to shiver. Closing the door behind her, she stepped further out onto the roof to see if Light was already outside, waiting for her. Sure enough, the boy was leaning against the railing on one side of the roof. Walking over, Naeko stood beside him and waited patiently as he looked out over the city.

The two stood outside for an awfully long time, until Naeko realized her fingers were starting to get numb and red from the cold midday air. "Um, so, about the debate…I'm really sorry. I said a lot of unnecessary things, and I'm sure I hurt you in some way, shape, or form."

"It's fine," Light said, not turning to look at the other death note owner. "But, although I'm glad to know that, it is not what I wanted to talk about. You agree, no matter how you look at it from afar, this looks like a love confession, correct?"

"A what?" Naeko asked, blinking. "You aren't confessing to me, are you?"

Light turned and smiled a charming smile at Naeko. "No, I'm not. But, if anyone else was watching us while we were talking up here, all alone, it would look like it, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose so," Naeko drawled, not entirely sure if she liked where this conversation as going.

"Good. Now that we have established a scenario, we need to act it out. You see, I think we are being watched closely by the government. L is trying to find Kira, and he suspects me. Ryuk is watching our backs for us, but I just wanted to warn you. I think it's best if we stick close so that we can guard the death note."

"Guard it?' Naeko asked. "I have it in my backpack right now, so it's safe in my locker. No one knows my combination, either, so it's perfectly fine."

"Naeko, when I grab your hands, try to blush." Naeko blinked again, not understanding Light's words. Then again, the boy was complex, and it was hard to understand him anyway. A minute later Light's hands reached out and wrapped around Naeko's small, cold ones. He turned to face her so that they were eye-to-eye. Naeko's cheeks immediately flared up, and not because the temperature had dropped another few degrees in the time they had spent outside. "Good. My back is to them, so they can only see your face. If your face is red, they will probably think you are embarrassed."

"Light, I don't have to pretend," Naeko murmured, ducking her head down. Light laughed, and it was a soft laugh at first, but Naeko knew that _he_ wasn't pretending either. As long as he had his back to those spies, everything that came out of Light's mouth was pure truth.

"You know, Naeko, your hands are really cold," Light said, squeezing her hands softly to emphasize his point. "Maybe we should go inside again." Naeko nodded, and Light put his arm around Naeko's shoulders to guide her back inside. Before they opened the door to the stairs, however, Light gave one last glance over his shoulder.

Getting the creepy feeling of eyes watching him, Light frowned and followed Naeko down the stairs and back to the hallway. They had missed their lunch period, so there wasn't much point in going to the cafeteria. Light pretended to ignore Naeko as he made his way to his locker, but now the two had a bond that wasn't easily broken. And by requesting to stick together, he was just thickening that bond.

Soon, it would be nearly impossible to write her name in the death note. He had to write down her name before he was completely free and able to go back to his "work" of ridding the world of criminals. As Light opened his locker and got out his books, he resolved to find a way to get the death note back from Naeko. That would be the easy part. Steeling himself against the emotions that always ran through him whenever he was with her would be another thing. Yes, it would be another thing altogether….

---whoosh!---

Yay! I know at the beginning of the chapter I said I'd get 7 pages in, but when I recounted, here were more like 11 reviews, so I guess my alert thingy isn't working! I'm not getting all of the reviews in my email! Anyway, I think I got 9 pages in (I have to check! XD) so I hope you are happy! This story is getting really interesting! I can't wait to write the next chapter, even though I really need to work on my Christmas story!

**About the Christmas story**…I think I might delete the story I have up now and save it for next Christmas. This year the only thing I have time for is a **one-shot**, so let's do a **poll** on what anime/manga the **Christmas one-shot** will be for! Please take a look at **my profile** and I have a **list of anime/manga** that I'm going to write for anyway, so please **send me a message** (after you **review** on this story, of course!) and **tell me what you want**!

(**1**) Christmas in Japan is usually spent with lovers, but if you don't have one you usually spend it with your friends or family. I read that somewhere, but now I can't remember where! XD


	7. Chapter 7

Aw, no reviews! Well, hardly any. Jeez, out of 30 people on alert, only a 10th of you review?! That's sad!

I don't own this, and if I did it would probably be a failure, like my attempts to get you people to review:P

---hi!---

"So, Ryuk is watching out for us?" Naeko asked, kicking a rock ahead of her as she walked side-by-side with Light. Light nodded, but otherwise said nothing. "When did you notice?"

"This morning. Ryuk told me about it, because he is always staying behind me. Sometimes I don't know what I would do without him. At least, I wouldn't have noticed, and I wouldn't have been able to tell you."

Naeko smiled. "It's amazing to hear you sound so grateful. Who knew such a person could care so much about a person that doesn't exist."

"Hey, for your information, he exists, but he's dead. I think." Naeko laughed, and Light put on a fake smile that he knew the spy that was watching them could see.

"So, how long do we have to do this?" Naeko asked, looking up at Light. Light met her gaze, and then looked back at the sidewalk.

"I'm not sure…probably as long as it takes for my name to get off the suspect list. Why, are you happy being my pretend girlfriend?"

Naeko punched Light in the arm playfully, a scowl on her face. "Hey, you_ know_ I can barely stand being a _regular_ friend. Just be glad I'm not a boy, otherwise I'd have to be your _boy_friend. Imagine the rumors that could go around about you being gay!"

It was Light's turn to scowl. "Oh yes, with our class, I could imagine."

"Hey, so, want to come over to my house again tonight?" Naeko asked randomly, changing the subject while she still had the thought in her mind. "You can use my laptop and stuff, if you want. I always delete the history on my laptop anyway, so nobody would know what sites and stuff you went on."

"Tempting, but I think I might have to skip out. I'm not sure if my parents need my help or anything tonight. Plus, they were kind of ticked that I skipped out on supper last night. Maybe I could come over after supper and get something done then?"

"Sounds good to me." Naeko looked up from her shoes to look across the street at the park. "Hey, I think I'm going to stay at the park for a while. It'll probably be a lot more peaceful there than at home. See ya later!" Light didn't even have time to protest as Naeko ran across the street and through the park entrance, all the way across the playground to the swings. Shrugging, the boy continued walking. _Maybe it's better this way; the spy will have to choose between the two of us. It they stay to watch Naeko, it'll free me up some time to find Ryuk and hear what he has to say._

Naeko watched Light as he walked on down the street. Opening her book bag, the girl pulled out her Chemistry hardback and notepad, placing the book bag on the ground next to her. Pulling her pencil out from the spiral binding of her notebook, Naeko opened her book to the correct page for her hardback review and started working, answering the questions as best as she could. Only sometimes did she have to look up an answer.

As she worked, Naeko began to get a creepy feeling crawling up her spine. A few times she looked up and caught movements out of the corner of her eyes. Thinking it was the spy Light had been talking about, Naeko shrugged and went back to her work, determined to not let it get to her.

"I finally found you, Naeko." Naeko blinked and looked up at Ryuk, who had just appeared in front of her. Trying to ignore the spy had gotten her to focus completely on her work, causing her to omit any unnatural sounds or movements. Even the cars speeding down the street didn't bother her.

Naeko opened her mouth to reply to Ryuk, and then remembered the spy. Flipping to a new page in her notebook, she wrote the word 'What?' Ryuk leaned over to read it, getting Naeko's game, and then laughed. "Oh, Light was just worried about you, so he sent me off to check on you. You're such a goody-goody, putting your homework in priority.

Naeko tried to hide the frown on her face. Leaning back over her notebook, she wrote, 'Light shouldn't care. I m not a goody-goody! STFU!'

Leaning back as though she were stretching, Naeko showed the notebook to Ryuk with a carefree expression on her face. Ryuk read the message and then laughed at Naeko's attempt at shorthand.

"You know," the Shinigami said, "Light _does_ care, whether he wants to admit it or not. And if you aren't a goody-goody, then why are you taking so much time on your homework?"

Naeko pouted and scribbled in her notebook again. 'I don't care either way. I want to give Light as much time as possible—'

Naeko instantly sat up straight. She had forgotten to give Light the death note! Cursing herself, Naeko reached into her bag and brushed her fingers over the hard cover of the death note. At some point during her last block of the day, Naeko had resolved to give the death note to Light. She knew her aunt was nosy and wouldn't hesitate when given a chance to look through her niece's possessions. Not only that, but Naeko knew she was a very careless person and would probably forget to hide her notebook. The death note would be safer with Light, and he would be able to use it as he saw fit.

"Oh, I'm so stupid," Naeko muttered under her breath. Sliding her notebook and hardback into her bag, Naeko stood from the swing and set off to the park entrance and then down the street, Ryuk following her no less than a step behind.

"What are you doing now?" Ryuk asked. This girl never ceased to amuse him.

"I'm going to go back to my house and wait for Light to come over," Naeko whispered back. She had seen a shadow move out of the corner of her eye when she had turned to go down her street. Even knowing that she had a person trailing her pissed Naeko off, and she subconsciously started walking at a faster pace.

"Light told me his plan…how fast did you agree to being his girlfriend?" Naeko stopped walking and Ryuk stopped just before he was about to run into her.

"Shut…up…" Naeko seethed. She opened her mouth to say more, but decided against it. Resuming her fast pace, Naeko hurried down the street and up the steps to her house. Opening the door unceremoniously, she didn't notice the 5 pairs of eyes watching her as she took off her shoes and huffed up the stairs.

"Oh my," Mayako said, bringing a hand to her lips. "She doesn't usually act like that. I wonder what's wrong?"

Sachiko, Light's mother, fidgeted in her seat. "Well, Light, aren't you in that young girl's class? Why don't you follow her and ask her what's wrong? Maybe she's willing to talk to you because you're in her class! If that's alright, though…"

Mayako shook her head and smiled brightly. "Oh, it's fine. I'm so glad you came over today, Sachiko, and you even brought the entire family! It looks like today was just a bad day for Naeko." Light nodded his affirmative, standing up from the couch to follow the girl.

"Yes, well, we know how that goes in _our _family," Soichiro ground out. The older man had been whisked away from his newspaper, and while Yuki was still at work, he had no one to talk to.

"Papa, that only applies to the _men_ in our house," Sayu said, laughing. She had been quite silent up until then, but when her brother left, she felt like she had to stick up for herself and get involved in the conversation.

"Oh, by the way, Sayu, Naeko was asking about you on her first day here! I think she was hoping for a neighbor girl that she could hang out with."

Sayu blinked. "Really? Did she know about Light?"

Mayako looked confused. "About what, dear?"

"Did she know that I have a heartthrob for a brother? Did she know that he's single? Did she know he's the top in his class?"

"No…she only asked if there were any female girls that were around her age. When I told her about you, she seemed really interested though. Maybe she'd like to be your friend! We just have to see if Light can get her out of her bad mood…"

At that point, Sachiko popped back into the conversation. "Don't worry! If there's one thing Light is good at, it's charming girls!"

"Lucky," Soichiro said gruffly. That got all three females to laugh.

Meanwhile, Light was busy "charming" Naeko. Well, he was going to have to start by getting inside her bedroom first, because she a) had a cd player/radio turned up until she couldn't hear his knocks on the door b) was in the bathroom where she wouldn't be able to hear him if she had the door closed or c) thought he was someone else and didn't want to talk to anyone. Because he didn't know the girl very well, Light was betting on all three options.

"Naeko, open up! It's me, Light." Light knocked on the door once more, his knocks turning more and more into frenzied bangs.

Giving up, Light turned his back to the door and slid to the ground, letting his elbows rest on the tops of his knees. He planned on catching her the next time she stepped outside her door, and if she didn't feel like leaving her room he would try again in a few minutes. Even so, waiting in an empty hallway was a little better than listening to his mother and neighbor giggle and laugh.

"Naeko…" Light grumbled. What a pain! This uncut girl was going to take years off of his already shaved and valuable life!

"You're acting like a lovesick puppy. Come on, get in." Light turned and looked over his shoulder at a very clean and _wet_-looking Naeko. A Naeko that was only wearing a towel. Light could feel his cheeks heating up before he reined in the color.

"Did you just get out of the shower?" Light asked as he stood. "Not that it matters, but—"

"Yes. I took a shower. Do you have a problem with it?" Light shook his head "no" quickly, and Naeko sighed.

"My book bag is on my bed and my laptop is underneath the bed. I should already be logged in on the computer, but if not then type in "YouAreInOver" and the password should come up." Naeko opened her closet door and searched through it before sighing and pulling out a little pink dress with a cherry blossom tree stitched in the side. It was actually cute in Naeko's opinion, once she got a better look at it, but it was still a dress, and Naeko had a policy against dresses.

While Naeko was in the bathroom changing, Light did as he was told and opened the laptop from under the bed. The laptop was an older model and took forever just to get to start up, but finally it was at the login page. Light was glad to see that the username and password had already been input and all he had to do was hit the enter key. Once Light took a better look at the username, though, it hit him.

_Naeko likes yaoi? Well, that's surprising to know. She doesn't seem like someone who would watch a lot of anime. I wonder if she thought up this username all by herself? It sounds original, but who would think that a girl like Naeko would support gay pride?_

Naeko stepped out of the bathroom only a moment later. She was wearing the dress and now her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. Light watched her as she crossed the room to where he was at.

"What? You didn't even get the note out? Jeez, are you really good for anything?" Naeko grumbled to herself as she rummaged through her back pack.

Light pretended to ignore the girl's comments and asked, "Why are you calling it a note? And what is up with your username?" The second question just sort of popped out f his mouth, but Light found himself really wanting to know.

Naeko was immensely quiet for a minute or so, while she was shuffling around in her back pack. "My aunt is one to snoop, and I don't want her to overhear my talking about a notebook I named "death". Also, this laptop is my sister's. She made a username for me too, but I forgot the password after I got into the habit of using her name. She had a bunch of family pictures saved to one of her files, and whenever I felt lonely I liked to log onto her name and look at them." Naeko laughed quietly, and handed Light the death note without looking at his face. "My sister always did like to create imaginative names and mottos. One Christmas, each family member got her a teddy bear, and she lined them up and gave them names that started with the letters _y, a, o_, and _i_. She really was an anime otaku, and she even let me watch a few episodes of my favorite anime when I couldn't get to bed. She and I would curl up together on her bed and she'd start the anime, and our parents would never know."

Naeko sighed, taking a deep breath. "But, that was a long time ago. I can hardly remember anything from that time."

Light sat in silence with Naeko until they were startled by a knock on Naeko's door. "Oi! Lover birds! Mom says it's time to go, Light!"

"Tell her I'm staying to work on homework!" Light shouted back. He hid the death note under Naeko's bed incase his sister had the gall and guts to walk into a stranger's room without permission.

"Can't you work together tomorrow? We're coming back over for dinner, because Mr. Yuki is going to have the day off tomorrow."

"Light, just take it with you," Naeko whispered, motioning towards her bed and the hidden death note. "I'm not going to use it anyway."

Light looked dubious for a moment, but then gave in. Whispering back to Naeko, he said, "I can't sneak it out of here because I don't have anywhere to hide it and my coat is downstairs. Just bring it to school tomorrow and I'll take it then." Naeko nodded her agreement and stood up from her bed, leaving her computer open and the death note hidden under her bed. Before Light could leave the room, though, she stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Light, would it help if…I wrote down some names…like if you were to find a spot where the spy could easily see you…if I wrote the names during that time…"

Light had to lean in to understand Naeko's muttered fragments. Stepping closer to her so that they were touching, he patted her head and said, "That would help a lot. I'll go for a walk later, around 8. If you could start writing names around that time, my name might possibly go down on the suspicion list." Naeko nodded, and Light gave her a small smile. Leaning down, Light gave the girl a small kiss on the forehead before he turned and opened the bedroom door, leaving her with only a small wave.

Naeko, still in shock from Light's kiss, felt her lips curl up in a smile. She could hear Sayu and Light talking as they walked down the hall to join their parents at the bottom of the stairs. The smile faded, however, when Naeko thought about what she had volunteered to do.

_Can I really do it? Can I really write in the death note?_ Naeko pondered these thoughts as she reached under the bed to get the death note. Sitting down on her bed next to her computer, Naeko flipped through the death note's pages. Light hadn't even filled up _half_ of the pages. Would she even be there to watch him write in the very last name?

Shaking her head, Naeko placed the death note under her mattress. Brushing her skirt to fix the crinkles, she left her room and headed downstairs. Walking into the kitchen, Naeko was greeted by her aunt.

"Ah, there you are, Naeko darling. What were you and Light doing upstairs?" Mayako gave her niece a girly giggle and went back to looking at the newspaper she was holding.

"Nothing, really. I made him wait a while because I was cold and took a quick shower, not even thinking that he might come upstairs to visit me. Actually, to be honest, I didn't even realize we had visitors over!" Naeko put on a false smile and laugh as she sat down at the kitchen table. Catching a glance at the oven's digital clock, Naeko noted the time. It was 6:35. She still had an hour and a half to prepare herself emotionally.

"You know, it'd be great if you two hooked up," Mayako said, not even lifting her beautiful brown eyes from her paper. "You and Light really make a great couple, too."

"Oh, Light didn't tell you?" Naeko asked. She didn't exactly want to be the one to tell her aunt she and Light were in a "relationship", but it would be a good excuse for them to be close. Not only that, but if Mayako slipped up and told one of her other friends about her and Light's relationship in front of the spy, Naeko would be able to create alibis for the both of them. "You see, he asked me out today, during lunch. It was surprising, really. Totally unexpected." Well, at least _that_ part was true.

Mayako actually looked up from the newspaper this time, her eyes wide. When the newspaper bent from being held in an awkward position, Naeko could see that her aunt had been reading a low-fat recipe for some sort of miso soup that Naeko had never heard of.

"Did he really ask you out? What did you say? You didn't reject him, did you?" Mayako's tone became more and more frenzied even though the woman was sitting stock still in her seat, and Naeko had to calm her down quickly.

"I didn't reject him; I said yes! Light's a nice guy, and I figured I could give him a chance!" Mayako sighed in relief, and Naeko was sighing on the inside. Where had that cheesy crap come from? Well, if it made her sound more convincing…

"Okay, good. I was going to say, if you had given up a chance like that, I would have had to take you to the doctor to get your brain checked!" Mayako laughed and Naeko chuckled, amused that her aunt could only ever think about boys even though she was already happily married.

Naeko looked over at the clock again and noticed that it was only 6:52. She had barely been able to kill any time. Mayako caught her looking at the clock and asked, "Something wrong? Are you waiting for something?"

Naeko blinked and shook her head no. "Nah, I was just trying to think of what shows were on at this time. I don't really want to work on homework right now. Speaking of shows, is Uncle Yuki going to be home before his favorite show comes on?"

Mayako glanced at the clock and then stared up at the ceiling. "No, I don't think so. He said he'd be getting home super late, but he didn't ask me to tape the show or anything. Could you be a dear and set it up to tape for when it comes on?"

Naeko nodded and stood up from her chair. Walking into the living room, she turned on the TV and immediately started at the message on the screen. It read: "Kira, I know you're out there. I have my suspicions, also. I wouldn't try anything tonight, if I were you. Signed, L."

Naeko stared at the television for a while, blocking out the voice of the news reporter. The message stayed on the screen for a long time, until the clock stuck 7:00, and the screen changed to that of a weather forecaster and his board.

"Tonight we'll be experiencing light showers and temperatures in the low 50s, which is surprisingly high for the oncoming winter weather…" Naeko blocked out the weather forecaster after a while too. After searching for and finding the TV remote, she started up the DVR and set an alarm for the channel that her uncle's show would appear on. Once she saved the alarm, Naeko turned off the TV once more and slowly walked up the stairs, hoping that her lagging feet would take her another hour to get up the stairs. Although she wasn't looking forward to it, Naeko wanted the time to fly so that she could drag out the death note and test it herself.

Although the idea of the death note sounded cruel and unusual, Naeko couldn't help but wonder. She wanted to try it out to see if such a flimsy pad of paper really had the powers that Light had described it with. Only then would she believe if the notebook was true or if it was really just a joke. Earlier, looking back at a few of the names in the notebook, though, Naeko had remembered a few of the criminals' names that had been on TV, reported dead for unexplained reasons.

Naeko entered her bedroom and immediately flopped down on the bed, her desk lamp already illuminating the room and giving it an eerie glow as a contrast to the dark that was seeping in through her window. Pulling her sheer curtains to the side with her toe, Naeko cast a glance outside and winced at the raindrops on her windowpane. Could Light convince his mother that he could take a walk in that sort of weather? Ah, well. There was nothing she could do then. The best she could do was to watch from her window and wait to see if Light would exit his house, even though it was a bad angle and she wouldn't be able to see much of her neighbors' front door.

Naeko laid on her bed for much of the next hour, wasting time by thinking about random thoughts, none of them necessarily relevant to her task on hand.

At 7:57, Naeko broke out of her daze long enough to look at her digital alarm clock. Reaching under her bed for the death note, she picked up the cursed book and took it over to her desk, leaving it closed. Then she pulled her chair up to the window and waited for some indication of Light leaving his house. She didn't have to wait long, however, because a bright light suddenly lit up the front steps of Light's house, and then a shadow appeared in the light. Naeko had to squint, but when the figure closed the door behind them and started out into the rainy night, she knew it was Light.

Pushing her chair back to her desk, Naeko focused on the cover of the death note. It was plain, with only the white letters to decorate it. Flipping open the pages, Naeko slowly grabbed a pencil from a cup near her desk lamp and found the page Light had stopped writing on. Tapping on her laptop to get it out of sleep mode, Naeko quickly started up the Internet program she had and searched for a list of wanted criminals. Finding a decent sized list, Naeko remembered the death note's rules and focused on the each criminals' faces as she wrote down their names as listed on the screen.

The only sound in her room was the scratching of the pencil lead and the rustling of the paper, occasionally the sounds of her fingertips moving the page down to find more criminals. Naeko didn't even look at their crimes, because in the index of the page she had found, there were criminals rated by their degree of wrong-doing. Starting at the highest and going down, Naeko felt herself numb at all thoughts of what she was doing. She wrote and wrote, until her hand began to cramp and she leaned back in her chain to stretch. Looking back at her work, Naeko narrowed her eyes at the completely full page and a half she had written, using her tiniest script.

"What have I done?"

---X---

Wow, that was…long. For me, anyway. 4,250+ words in this chapter alone, by the way. I found the word count toolbar option, and now I can't stop using it! XD It's quite addicting, that's for sure! Now I can work on my other stories, thank god! I really wanted to get this chappy done, though!

Please review, you know I love it when you do! XD Hey, that rhymed!

EDIT: OMG I am such an idiot! I uploaded the chapter_ last night_, but forgot to update the story! So, sorry you had to wait an extra 10 hours or so! XD


	8. Chapter 8

Wee! Happy New Year everybody! I hope you all set resolutions! I didn't! XD Well, maybe I want to lose a pound or two, but making you guys happy comes first!

I don't own Death Note, and I'm kinda glad I don't! XD Otherwise I might actually have to WORK! (gasp!)

---drunkongrapejuiceteehee---

"Naeko." Silence.

"Naeko." Silence once more.

"Naeko, will you just respond to me?"

"What do you want, Light?" Naeko sighed. "I'm still in my emo corner. Leave me alone."

Light pulled Naeko up from the floor by the collar of her uniform. "What the hell is with you?"

Naeko shook Light off and brush invisible wrinkles out of her uniform. "I wrote in it. I wrote a lot. I can't believe you are so calm and collected after all you've done. I think I'm entitled to a bit of mental chaos."

Light watched the back of Naeko before he sensed eyes watching him. Tensing up, Light sighed to himself and stepped forward, encasing Naeko in his strong arms from behind. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize. You did me a big favor, though, and I can't thank you enough for it."

Naeko felt her muscles tighten, but she figured Light had a good reason for his actions, besides a death wish. A good reason, such as a spy coming within hearing range. "No, I guess I should be over it by now. I mean, it was wrong of me to think you were cheating on me." Naeko turned around and wrapped her arms around Light's neck, bringing her face up close to his to give him a peck on the cheek. It had been like that all the previous week.

Light, thinking Naeko had gotten the message, nodded and encased her in a tighter hug. Before she left her close proximity with Light's face, however, Naeko whispered, "You are dead."

Light was saved from having to respond as the bell rang, signaling the start of the next class. Light wrapped his arm around Naeko's middle and led her rather harshly back to the school's back entrance.

Ever since he and Naeko had resolved to a pretend relationship, Naeko had been acting oddly. Actually, if he thought back, maybe asking her to write in the death note was a bad move. Even if he got a temporary rest from being on the "Kira suspicions list", Naeko was, as she put it, "having a mental breakdown". Light could only try to comfort her in his own, oddly scary way. But when Naeko started going outside for lunches and free study periods, Light started cracking down the whip.

"Light, we have the next period together, right?" Naeko asked, dragging Light out of his thoughts. Naeko started walking a little closer to Light, a troubled look on her face.

"Yeah. Why? Something bothering you?" Light looked down onto the brunette's head, and Naeko laughed shrilly.

"Actually, yes. You could remove your arm now. The glares I am receiving are scaring me worse than anything I could write in a notebook." Light looked up the hallway and promptly removed his arm from Naeko's shoulders. Who knew he had so many fan girls? And who knew they were all so vicious? Light decided to write his and Naeko's wills later.

"Oh, oi! Naeko, is that you?" Naeko and Light both turned as a boy shouted loudly from the end of the hallway. With so many students leaving their lockers to go to their next classes, the crowd in the hallway was huge, but Naeko was able to spot the familiar face in the bunch.

"Kenji!" she said, brightening up a bit at said's enthusiastic greeting. Kenji squeezed through the crowd and wrapped an arm around Naeko's shoulders, ruffling her hair a bit to show it was all fun and games. "What are you doing don here? Aren't all the seniors' classes on the highest level of the school?"

"Yeah," Kenji replied, "but I just wanted to check up on my favorite kouhai. Oh, and also, I have tonight off, if you wanted to go shopping." Kenji let go of Naeko and stood in front of her nonchalantly, waiting for an answer.

"Um, yeah, sure. I'm free! Uh, we can meet up after school at the front gates, okay? I have to go so I'm not late to class! See you then!" Naeko didn't really appreciate Light dragging her down the hallway, but she got over it when they entered the classroom just in time for the bell to ring.

"Glad you could join us, Mr. Yagami and Ms. Menshi." Light and Naeko bowed their heads as a sign of acknowledgement, but took their seats instead of responding to their teacher's sarcastic comment. "Now, your regular teacher for this block is unable to come in today, so I'm in charge. As usual, we will have a question and answer session."

Naeko groaned inwardly. Thanks to cancer, their 5th block teacher often was sick and couldn't come to school, so every time the office assigned the class _this_ teacher. His name was Mr. Tahuko, and he was the equivalent of the 7th layer of hell.

"Now, today we will be moving on to study the human mind. Or, in other words, psychology." Tahuko wasted no time in diving into the lesson, and every student wished they could suddenly disappear from the room.

"Today, however, I want to get a feel of how your teenage brains work." Mr. Tahuko looked around the room, eyeing every student with a subtly hidden glare. His eyes stopped roaming once they reached Naeko. Naeko stared back with just as much force, knowing it would be her downfall.

"Well, since you look so eager to prove yourself, Ms. Menshi, please inform me of something. Who, in this world, do you think you could not live without?" Naeko felt several pairs of eyes turn to her, but the question was not one she had been expecting. Therefore, she took her time in replying.

"Sir, there is no one in this world that I could not live without. I make it a point in my life to stay away from others." Naeko shifted uncomfortably in her seat, knowing her answer would not suffice.

Tahuko chuckled as he crossed his arms and leaned back against his temporary desk. "Really? I have heard a rumor that you and Mr. Yagami are currently dating each other. If that is true, then why would you agree to date each other if you did not truly care for each other?"

A few of the kids in the class grinned or snickered at their substitute's words. Naeko took a deep breath and glanced over at Light. He was looking back at her, his expression unreadable. How was she supposed to answer that question? Slowly, placing every word in its position for the utmost affect, Naeko said in a calm and collected voice, "There was once a single person I thought I could never live without. But now she is dead, and I am still alive. It is true; even if I did get close enough to someone – Light, for example – and if something were to happen to them, I would never be shocked or depressed enough to die. Although I would be extremely sad, it could never weigh me down enough to break me. I have already had that experience…I am unbreakable."

There was a calming silence in the room after Naeko's speech was finished. Students and their teacher pondered Naeko's words, until one brave girl spoke up.

"I think she's right…I really love my brother, and even if he can be annoying sometimes, I'd be really sad if anything happened to him. It's just really hard to believe that I'd go into such depression that I'd die if he died, though."

Another boy spoke up, following the girl. "Yeah, I think you'd have already had to have been depressed before something happened to your loved ones." Slowly, everyone in the room came to an agreement, and small conversations and chats were started all over the room. Tahuko let his students talk, as he was still trying to find a way to twist Naeko's words.

"Alright, I see your point," Tahuko said a few minutes later. The room immediately became silent, and students turned their heads to face back up to the front. "I guess there is nothing I can say to counter that. So, who should I pick on to answer my next question? How about—"

Naeko didn't care who the teacher picked on. She was still thinking back to the "one she couldn't live without", and how they had left her all alone. Silent tears made their way down her cheeks. Down her cheeks, under her chin, down her neck, only to disappear behind the collar of her uniform, where they were sucked up greedily by the material of her top. The minutes flew by, and then the bell rang, calling Naeko out of her stupor.

Naeko was undoubtedly one of the first people out the door. Her tears had already dried, leaving pale streaks down her cheeks and the tell tale sign of red, puffy eyes. Pushing her way down the hallway, Naeko made her way to the stairs and ran down them, stopping for no one. Eventually, she made it out of the school and out into the fresh air. Not stopping even though her legs were killing her, Naeko ran down the street, hugging her school books close to her.

Even though she had a suspicion, Naeko was still surprised when she found herself standing outside of the local park's entrance. It seemed to be the place she could go to whenever she was sad. Luckily, there was no one at the park, so Naeko could sulk alone, by herself. Taking a place on her favorite swing, Naeko dropped the books she had forgotten about. Bringing her hands up to touch the frosty cold metal of the swing, Naeko leaned against the sides and slowly rocked herself back and forth.

She tried not to think then. If any thoughts were to enter her mind, Naeko knew they could turn against her in an instant, and she would start crying again. Mostly, she found herself interested in the people walking past her on the street, or the rare glances she could get into the cars going back and forth. Naeko found other people's lives interesting, and when she was in the U.S., she made up a hobby of walking down the street at night, when lights on in houses, giving her a better view of the insides. It was amazing what you could learn about someone with just one glance inside their house.

Although, in the United States, she hadn't had anything to link her back to this awful place. Well, awful in only one way.

This place held memories. Memories she'd rather have locked away. Memories of her late sister, of her childhood friend whom she was pretty sure was Light, and of the time the three of them had spent together. Merrily playing in the park, watching scary movies late at night when both sets of parents had to go out and Hisa was left to baby-sit, and the much loved sleepovers in the backyard, in only a tent and sleeping bags.

Naeko sighed. God, she could still remember the laughs, the jokes…she could remember rolling over in her Barbie sleeping-bag and looking into Light's beautiful brown eyes. As much as she wanted to stay in denial, with proof set so profoundly in front of her, Naeko felt the only thing she could do was to give up. Releasing her hands from the swing chains, Naeko buried her head into her now cold hands and rubbed the threatening tears from her eyes before they could fall.

Naeko didn't even realize how long she had been sitting in the park until a small group of elementary-schoolers came running down the street, letting themselves into the park with shouts of joy. Guessing that school – and her peaceful thought time – was over, Naeko stood and picked up her books, ready to leave to go back to her aunt's house. Just after she left through the park's main gate, however, she was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Hey, Naeko! I thought I'd find you here!" Naeko twirled around and was encased in a huge hug by her friend, Kenji. "I've been looking for you forever, after I heard that you skipped out on the rest of your classes," Kenji said, pulling away from his hug to look Naeko over at an arm's length.

"Sorry, Kenji," Naeko said, smiling apologetically. "I guess I was just a little upset about what we were talking about in class."

The smile on Kenji's face fell. "Want to tell me about it?" he asked softly. Naeko looked down at her shoes, unsure of what to say as an answer. Part of her wanted to get it off of her chest, and another part of her, the dominant part, wanted to keep her life a secret from all who tried to get close to her.

"Maybe...later," Naeko finally said with a sigh. She held her schoolbooks tightly to her chest and took a step forward so that she was standing closer to Kenji. The older male was surprised to notice that she was shivering.

"Oh, hey, are you cold? I mean, you haven't been out here in this miserable weather the entire time, have you?" Kenji asked, concern etched on his handsome face. Naeko nodded sheepishly, and Kenji rolled his eyes. Even if it was a blessing to most guys, Kenji thought the guy who voted for miniskirts as the girls' uniforms should be socked in the nose.

"Here." Kenji took off his school jacket and draped it over Naeko's shoulders. Naeko opened her mouth to protest, but Kenji looked at her with those glittering, mischievous eyes. "Don't worry, it's only temporary. You can borrow it until we find you a sweater at the mall. Although it probably won't help your bare legs…anyway, we'll find you a sweater. You can think of it as an early Christmas present from me!" Kenji gave Naeko a big grin as he began to lead her down the street, in the direction of the local mall.

---

"Um, Kenji, I have to use the bathroom. Could you wait here for a second?" Naeko asked sweetly. After wandering around for an hour or two, getting several of the things on Kenji's shopping list, Naeko had finally been able to enjoy the other's company. She thought it was odd how well they got along, even though they were practically strangers.

"Ah, sure. I'll just find a place to sit out here," Kenji replied, a big grin on his face. Naeko smiled back and turned to go down the narrow hallway leading to the public bathrooms. Kenji's smile was what she admired most about him. Naeko loved that no matter what she said or asked, Kenji would always reply to it with a smile.

Slipping into the woman's restroom, Naeko groaned at the line. It had been a busy day at the mall, and the bathrooms were no exception. Not that she had really wanted to actually use the restroom anyway, but earlier Naeko had leaned on a table at the food court and had gotten sticky stuff all over her hands. Placing her school books by the door, Naeko made her way through the other women in the bathroom, Naeko slipped and slided over to the sinks. Washing her hands with warm soap and water, Naeko rubbed her hands together to make sure all the sticky stuff had been banished before she dried them on her skirt. What was the point in washing your hands if you were going to get more germs on them from touching the paper towel dispenser?

Parting the crowd with as much politeness as she could muster, Naeko made her way back to the outside of the bathrooms and picked up her school books from beside the door. It had been somewhat of a hassle to carry them around, but Naeko didn't mind too much. She held them tight to her chest to feel more secure, because she didn't like being in places with too many other people.

When Naeko was back out into the heart of the mall, she looked around for Kenji. He was sitting on a bench straight in front of her, with his back to her. Another person was sitting by him, and from the looks of it, the person was a woman. Naeko walked forward, about to tell Kenji she was back, when she heard the conversation the two high-schoolers were carrying on.

"—such an ugly little girl, why do you care about her so much?"

"I don't, but I have to follow through with my end of the bet. Plus she's such a sad specimen when she cries, it kind of sickens you to see it."

"I can't see why you couldn't just leave her alone out in the cold; maybe she would have frozen to death!"

"That's cruel, and you know it. Also, it isn't even cold enough to snow; how would she be able to freeze to death? Besides, even if she's a pain, I feel sorry for her. You know my sensei was the one who ran over her sister 9 or 10 years ago..."

Naeko didn't want to hear any more. Dropping her books in shock, Naeko ran through the crowd to the nearest exit. Once she was outside, Naeko immediately began down the street that would lead her to her home.

How _could_ he? Why would such a kind person pretend to care for someone? Kenji had mentioned a bet…so she was just the object of a _bet_? Silent tears made their way down Naeko's face as she hurried down the street, not even caring about the books she had dropped in the mall.

Because the mall wasn't even that far from her aunt's house – probably only half a mile away from the park, and the reason Mayako always seemed to be out shopping – Naeko arrived at her house in less than half an hour. Barging straight in, Naeko was confused as to why she was in such a tight hug.

"Oh, Naeko darling, I was so worried! Please tell us the next time you want to stay after school! The Yagami family has been waiting here for a while, so you'll have to say sorry later. Now can you be a dear and get dressed? I laid out a cute little—Naeko, darling, why are you crying?"

Every set of eyes in the living room was on her. Naeko moved out of her aunt's arms, hiding her face with shame. Without even taking off her shoes, Naeko pounded up the stairs to change into the outfit she was sure her aunt had been talking about. The moment her bedroom door slammed upstairs, Mayako gave a worried look to Yuki.

"Oh dear. It looks like she's had yet another bad day," Sachiko said quietly, her hands resting on Sayu's shoulders. The Yagami family had decided to keep it casual for their dinner date with their neighbors, and despite Mayako's words, they had not been waiting long.

Light stared at the bottommost step on the stairs. He thought about telling the others that Naeko had left early from school, but he knew it would be better if he kept his mouth shut, if only for Naeko's sake. Shifting uncomfortably in his new jeans and tight long-sleeved shirt, Light just had to wonder why Naeko was acting so strangely. The death note could not take all of the blame for her odd behavior, because even though she was distancing herself from others, Naeko had not been crying when Light had gone to find her earlier during the lunch break.

Ryuk, hovering behind Light near the couch, also noticed how oddly Naeko was acting. Although he had been out watching Light's back for him, Ryuk could connect with people's emotions by spending time with them faster than normal humans could. "Hey, Light, you should talk with her later," Ryuk said, his tone as sincere and thoughtful as he could get it. Light just bobbed his head a little, a silent way of saying that he planned on it.

"Um, since everyone's here, maybe we should head into the kitchen now?" Mayako asked, clasping her hands together nervously. It had been a while since she and Yuki had had visitors over for dinner. Sachiko smiled and followed Mayako into the kitchen with Sayu, leaving the men to catch up.

---

The kitchen was fairly silent, only the clinking of utensils with glass plates and the soft thud of glasses being placed back onto the tabletop. Mayako glanced around to make sure the food was being accepted by her guests. So far the faces had been of pleasure, not disgust. Naeko just ate her fill, her gaze fallen, only looking up when her name was specifically mentioned or when a question was asked and she knew the answer.

Mayako cleared her throat and pushed her plate farther into the middle of the table, away from her body. "So, Naeko, I hope you're getting along with Light."

Light and Naeko both looked up at the same time, and Naeko nodded. "Very well," she said quietly.

"Light told me you two are going out!" Sachiko said cheerfully, also pushing her plate forward to motion that she was full. Both Yuki and Soichiro made faces at that last comment, but neither said a word. Both knew their wives would have a fit if they did.

Sayu leaned over and patted Naeko on the shoulder. "Don't worry. My brother may study a lot, but you're probably the first girlfriend he's ever had, so you're kinda special. Tell me if he treats you badly and I'll beat him up!" Sayu winked at Naeko's confused face and then let out a cute laugh.

"Sayu! You know I'd never do that!" Light said sharply. Naeko, who was sitting in-between the two, felt like she was in a cartoon where two people were pulling on one person in the middle. Of course, her arms were nowhere near being ripped off.

Mayako giggled and brought a petite hand up to cover her mouth. "Oh, Light, you're so lucky! Naeko is such a cute girl!" Naeko blushed red, and pushed her plate away, all thoughts of eating pushed from her mind. Now that she was the center of attention, any bite she took had the possibility of being spewed out with one suggestive comment.

"Oh, I _know_!" Sachiko continued. "She looks so much like Hisa, though! Maybe if her way was a bit lighter—"

Naeko stood up from her place at the table, holding her stomach. "I think I need some air…" she mumbled and stumbled over to the back door. In a flash she was through the door and out on the back porch.

"Still a touchy subject?" Soichiro guessed. Mayako nodded, tears welling at the corners of her eyes. Yuki frowned with concern and put a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder.

"Poor dear," Sachiko said, feeling very sorry for what she had said. Sayu just nodded, a little slack jawed. Light had always put on a cheery face for her, and to see a teen around his age acting so differently from him…

Light stood from his spot and pushed in his chair. "I think I'll go try and comfort her," he said softly, allowing himself out the back door and onto the porch.

Naeko heard the door open and close, and she was prepared for the arms that snaked around her and held her tightly. But Light's curious, loving, soft voice was too much. "Talk to me."

---

Wow…that was…weird. Okay, so, this chapter would have been longer, but I really wanted to update and so since I already know what I'm going to type, the chapter after this one should come up quickly too! I'm actually really proud of myself for this chapter, because I thought it was going to be much worse.

Also, a lot of you have been wondering about Light's emotions during this whole thing. You'll learn about them in the next chapter. It's like letting the cat out of the bag! Review, please! I didn't get many this time, even though I've been working super hard on this story! Over 4,100 words! In one chapter! That's review worthy!

EDIT: I think a loverly reviewer pointed out that Light's sister's name was "Sayu", and I had it as "Mayu". Sorry about that!


	9. Chapter 9

Woohoo I feel really good! I hope you guys like this story, because I'm going to be focusing on it for a bit. My Vampire Knight story is going roughly, so I'm trying to avoid it! (sweatdrop)

Disclaimer: I no owney! Except for Naeko, Mayako, Yuki, and the sleeping bags! I own all of those! Oh, and Kenji and the bitch girl he was talking to in the last chapter. Oh, and Hisa too! And Hisa's ingenuity of making up names that have to do with "yaoi". Uh, and Hisa's laptop. …I think that's it though…oh! And Mr. Tahuko! Uh, and 1st block teacher Mr. Yakatome. That's it though. I promise. I won't even GO into the first two volumes of _Death Note_ that I OWN.

---

"Talk to me."

"Light…" Naeko sighed. She knew the boy had come out after her and she could feel his breath, as he was standing right behind her. Unconsciously, she leaned into Light's touch, surprising the boy quite a bit. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything," Light replied, leaning his head down so that he was whispering into Naeko's ear. Stealthily, Light snaked his arms around Naeko's lithe form.

"Will you camp out with me tonight in the backyard?"

Light froze. Camping out in the backyard…watching the stars as they moved across the sky…

"Please?" Naeko's voice was pleading, and she was starting to shake slightly. "I never wanted to remember what it was like when _she_ was alive, but now…I want to create my own memories! Without _her_!"

"Why do you want to forget her so much?" Light asked softly. He knew who "she" was. The only person in the world Naeko "couldn't live without". For now, he was going to humor the girl's wishes so that he could learn why she was so unhappy.

"Hisa loved me, and I think she might have loved you too. The three of us spent so much time together, while we were here. It's hard to remember how it was back then, because I know I can never have that again. Right now, all I have left of that memory is you."

Light's eyes closed in a thoughtful expression. "So, you _could_ remember the time we spent together."

"Light, please," Naeko asked again, almost whimpering, "_please_ stay out here tonight with me!"

"Of course," Light replied. "I'd be happy to."

Naeko pulled away from Light's hug and turned so that they were facing each other. Quickly, she leaned up and kissed Light on the cheek, before skipping past him to collect the sleeping bags from the closet near the back door. Even though she was moving quickly, Light couldn't miss the small smile that lingered at the girl's lips.

---

Naeko handed Light the darker of the sleeping bags – the green and black one. Unrolling her own – a blue and yellow one – she set it down on the grass in the far backyard and plopped down on top, bringing her pillow with her. Light's pillow was lying on the ground near the bottom of Naeko's sleeping bag.

"Why don't you set up your sleeping bag?" Naeko asked Light, her mood already a thousand times better.

"Because I have a better idea. Get up." Light wasted no time in ordering the girl around. Naeko pouted a bit, but she followed Light's orders and stood up, holding her pillow to her chest. Light unfurled his sleeping bag and unzipped it until it was completely undone. Lying the sleeping bag so it was inside up, Light then moved on to Naeko's sleeping bag. He also unzipped that one, and placed it over top of his own. Then, he used the zippers on both sleeping bags to zip up the bottom and sides, leaving a space at the top that they could climb in to.

"Um, that'll put us pretty close," Naeko said dubiously. Light shrugged and picked up his pillow, placing it on the right side of the now single sleeping bag.

"It shouldn't matter, since we're going out now," Light said matter-of-factly. Naeko frowned.

"I thought that was just for pretend?" she asked. Light just shrugged and walked over to Naeko, pulling her closely to him until she was flush up against his body.

"Well now it's real," Light said, whispering sexily into Naeko's ear. Naeko pouted and pulled away to slip under the sleeping bag, as it was quickly getting cold out and Naeko was only wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

"I can't believe you sometimes, Light," Naeko said. Light smiled and crawled under the sleeping bag. Surprisingly, there was quite enough room for two, tall teenagers. Light snuggled up to Naeko and took her into his arms.

"Oh really?" the male teen purred. It was quite uncharacteristic for him, and Naeko stiffened, thinking aliens had replaced Light with an ultra-cuddly, touchy-feely teen look-a-like. "Why can't you believe me? Everything I'm doing is real."

Naeko felt Light's breath on the top of her head and sighed. "I don't know. You're just acting so strangely all of a sudden. It is…"

"What?" Light asked. The purr in his voice diminished and instead took on a more serious tone, but he still didn't relinquish his hold on Naeko's small body.

"It's a total turn-off," Naeko dead-panned. Light chuckled and backed off a bit, giving Naeko her own space.

"There, is that better?" Light asked. Truth be told, he had actually liked the close contact they had had with each other. Naeko nodded and turned so that she was lying on her back to gaze up at the stars. Light followed her example.

"Light…I want to, but I know I can't…" Naeko began slowly. A thin arm draped itself over the girl's brow, and Naeko stretched her toes under the cover of the sleeping bag. Light didn't even have to ask for her to continue, because the brunette began again with, "The death note has given me so many bad memories…well, truth be told, it hasn't. But, I still want to forget it. I want to forget that I ever killed anyone. I wish it would all just disappear!"

Light thought for a moment before replying. "If you want to forget…then go all the way. Don't just forget the little details; forget all about the death note, the murders, Ryuk—"

"Mmm, speaking of Ryuk, I told him that if he could be quiet, he could play on my laptop upstairs," Naeko said, putting a finger to her lips in a thoughtful expression. "I wonder if he's already bored?"

Light – a little miffed that he had been interrupted so easily – was only a little glad that he hadn't been able to finish his sentence. '_—forget all about me_.'

"But," Naeko continued, acting as if she had not heard Light's words, "I do want to remember just a little. All of the goods, things, and the times I was with you…" Naeko turned her head and moved her arm so that it was back at her side. Light was staring at her with a great intensity, and before she knew it they were kissing. The kiss was soft at first, but eventually Naeko scooted over so that she was closer to Light. Then, Light took dominance over the kiss, moving so that he was laying slightly on top of Naeko. They broke the kiss for a breath of the crisp night air, and Light took the time to swipe a lock of stray brown hair from Naeko's intense, green eyes. When the hair was behind the girl's right ear, Light's hand went to the other side of Naeko's head and he shifted his knees so that one was in-between Naeko's own legs and the other was on the side of her leg that he had been laying on.

"Light, what if someone sees?" Naeko whispered, never breaking eye contact.

"No one will see," Light whispered back, reassuringly. "The fence around your house and the darkness will hide us." Naeko made an "o" with her mouth and reached tentatively up to touch Light's cheek, as if she wasn't sure if she should be doing that. Light's eyes softened as he felt her cold skin brush against his face, and he brought his left hand up to guide her own. Then Light leaned down and enveloped Naeko's lips in another, more passionate, kiss.

All of a sudden, Naeko's hand fell limply out of Light's own, and her face turned so that Light's lips didn't touch hers. Light gave her a questioning look, and she sighed. "Light…I think…"

"What?" Light asked, a sort of urgency in his voice. "It's alright, you can tell me." Light's mouth opened again to say more, but he caught the little drops dripping off of Naeko's pale skin onto the sleeping bag's material. Closing his mouth once more, Light cupped Naeko's cheek and turned her face so that she was looking back at him. Light hated the trails of tears running over her cheeks. He hated that, by touching her tears, he could _feel_ her sorrows.

"I tried to kill him, Light. I really wanted to, too! He was…he was…"

"He who?" Light asked, quickly getting over the temporary shock that Naeko had tried using the death note _again_.

Naeko sniffled and a hand came up quickly to wipe away her tears. "Do you remember that guy that came up to me earlier during school and asked me if we could go shopping after school?" Light nodded his affirmative. "Well, after I…left early, I went to the park and he found me after school let out. Then we went to the mall and I got some sticky stuff on my hands so when I went to wash them I came back from the bathroom and overheard him talking to this weird girl I had never seen before." Naeko had to take a breath before she continued. "Anyway, the girl was bad-mouthing me and he wasn't doing a very good job of defending me, then he said that it was all part of a bet anyway, and that he couldn't care less if _I_ died!"

By the time Naeko was done with her small speech, she was more angry than sad, and the tears stopped flowing. Softly, Light asked, "Why didn't you write his name down?" He couldn't say he honestly approved of Naeko's actions, but making a young, vulnerable girl the object of a bet was quite a sick thought.

Naeko looked up sheepishly and said, "'Cause I don't know his last name." Light blinked and then rolled over onto his side, trying to hide the laughter that was bubbling up from his stomach. Naeko sat up, her body now free to move without Light hovering over it. "Hey! It's not _that_ funny! Maybe next time you try to write down somebody's name, I'll laugh at you because you don't _know_ it!"

"Actually," Light said, his laughing starting to subside, "I've run into that problem several times." Light started to say more about the deal Ryuk had been willing to strike with him for the Shinigami eyes, but Naeko could also make the deal, and he didn't want that to happen. Giving half of her life for something she wouldn't even want to use…he would give _his_ life to make sure it didn't happen.

Naeko chuckled a little, but she seemed to have a thought on her mind, and she would continue to feel uneasy until she got it off her chest. "Light," she said, sobering down once more, "I think…"

Light watched Naeko struggle with her words, and he pulled the girl closer so that she was once more in his arms. No matter how much they touched, Light couldn't believe the sensation that went through him as he held his cohort-in-killing in his arms. Apparently, with the confidence she borrowed from Light, Naeko was able to collect her thoughts and turn them into sentences.

"Light, I'm going back to the United States. And I want _you_ to come with me."

---

BWAHAHAHAH! You know what this means, don't you? BRING ON THE SEQUEL, BABY! Actually, because this story was so short and I don't want you all to have to put on new alerts, I'll just label the chapters in THIS STORY as "Part II: Chap 1" or something like that, next time I update.

(sigh) Okay, hyper mood over. I just taste-tested several different chocolate snacks, and I can't seem to spend my energy cause it's dark and cold and I don't wanna get off the computer cause I feel that I'm so hyper and I want to get a lot done and OMG I've been neglecting my Willful story and hell this is a really long run-on. (grin) And, you'll all love me cause I came up with a NEW idea today in History! It was really funny, because in the middle of a lecture on the US government I suddenly started digging in all my stuff to get paper and a pencil, then I was pretending to take notes (which was really stupid, because NO ONE ever takes notes in that damned class. The ONLY B I got on my report card. The rest were A's.) and then I was writing down the summary for the story and the guy I have a HUGE crush on (no saying names, because I KNOW some of you people) leaned over my shoulder and was like, "New fanfiction?" and I screamed so loud, because I HATE when people walk up behind me, and I jump at every bell. I really wanted to slap the guy, but I was so embarrassed because the entire class was laughing at me, and I was so totally red and had to hide my face behind my notebook! (sigh) Life is rough when your crush is bent on embarrassing you to the point of no return!

I think I've ranted enough, so please review and stuff! XD


	10. Chapter 10Part 2

Dear, dear, dear. I had actually hoped that I would get a bigger response from you guys! Really, it's like you guys weren't surprised that I was going to make a sequel! Although, it's not much of a sequel. It's just a scene change. But, I'm sure you'll be glad to learn that L will be appearing in this part of the story! A lot of you were wondering when he was going to come into play, so I felt inclined to make him appear. My gift to you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, just a few of my characters and places.

Also, I should warn you, I haven't really decided _where _I want Naeko's house to be, and so for now I'll just describe it and then decide later, stealthily slipping it into the writing.

---

Naeko waited patiently as Light received hugs and kisses from his family. She had already said goodbye to her aunt and uncle, and the two were calling her mother and father at that very moment to announce that she was going back to the United States, and bringing a friend with her.

Light broke away from his mother with one final hug and jogged down the steps of his front porch, eager to get going. Naeko waved to the Yagami family as she opened the door to the cab that would take both her and Light to the airport. Sachiko wiped a tear from her eye as she watched the two teens climb into the cab, their possessions already in the back with the exceptions of carry-on bags.

The cab raced off once the teens were in, and Sachiko's tears fell even harder. It was so hard for her to believe that Light was _really_ leaving the country. They had spoken together about him studying abroad, but somehow this was different. Sure, he was going to be going to Naeko's old school in the United States, but the reason he was leaving was totally different. He hadn't exactly told her his reasons, but because she trusted him and believed he was mature enough, Sachiko had let him go. She just couldn't shake the feeling that her son was holding something back from her, however.

Sayu and Soichiro walked back inside, leaving Sachiko to think outside by herself. The older woman looked up at the sky, wondering what had made her agree to Light's adventure out of the country. A feeling washed over her when she had heard Light's persuasive words.

"He said, 'I want to study abroad at Naeko's school'," she repeated softly to herself, "'I want to go back to the United States with her, if it's alright."

Sachiko shook her head and stood up taller. "Well, he's a smart boy, and he knows how to stay out of trouble. I'm sure he'll be fine." Despite her words, Sachiko couldn't help but look over her shoulder one more time as she turned to go back inside. A creepy feeling made its way up her spine, and she rushed through the front door, eager to make her way back to the rest of her family.

---

Naeko leaned against her plane seat. She sighed; things had actually been going really well for once in her life. Actually, they had been going great! The cab ride hadn't taken long, and getting on the plane itself had been a snitch! Naeko snickered when she recalled the older man who had asked Light if they were eloping. Light had turned an interesting shade of red, but Naeko had been laughing so hard you couldn't tell. Even if he was the one to initiate their relationship, Naeko felt that Light was uncomfortable to talk about it openly.

"So, how long is the plane ride?" Light asked casually, leaning over so that he was almost whispering in Naeko's ear. Naeko shrugged; she hadn't kept track last time.

"Don't worry," she replied. "It goes pretty quickly as long as it's fairly quiet and peaceful. Or so I've heard." Light made a face and turned to face out the window of the airplane. It was a nice view, he thought, but all of the clouds were in the way. Maybe they needed to be above the clouds for the view to be nicer?

"I heard it's already started snowing in the United States," Naeko said, also glancing out the window. "There are no pretty sakura blossom trees in the United States, but the snow in the winter sort of makes up for it. Especially where I live, because it's mostly trees and small cities."

Light turned to Naeko. "Where _do_ you live?" he asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

Naeko smiled secretly. "Well, let's just say it's not even a dot on the map. Our house is sort of situated between two different cities, so it's sort of the middle of nowhere. The nice thing about living out in the country, however, is that we have our very own lake right in our backyard! It also means we have to travel for a bit before we get to a major grocery store."

Light sat back in his seat and looked up to the front of the airplane. "It sounds nice," he said truthfully. "I guess I'm so used to living in a somewhat hectic city."

"Somewhat hectic?" Naeko asked doubtfully. "It didn't seem very hectic to me, but then again I tend to not really care where I am or how busy it is." Naeko tilted her head to look down the plane's isle and observed the other passengers. Leaning back over to whisper in Light's ear, she asked, "Hey, when is Ryuk gonna catch up to us?"

Light thought while he rummaged in his carry-on. "Well, I think he said he was going to hitch a ride in the back of the plane, where they hold all of the luggage and stuff. He had a weird grin on his face, though, so he could very well be walking around all over the plane, causing terror." Light pulled out a book and leaned as far back in his seat as he could.

Naeko just sighed once more and looked out the window, beyond Light's reading form. Glancing at the title of his book, she almost laughed out loud. It said _Speaking English for Dummies_, but Naeko wasn't so sure he needed the Dummies' version. That was an idea! She could create a new line of books. _Knitting for Geniuses,_ or something like that.

Naeko felt the bright sun shine on her as the plane flew above the cloud level. The lull of the engines and the whispered conversations of the other passengers slowly pulled at her eyelids, causing them to slowly fall as her breathing leveled out.

Light looked at Naeko as she slumped over in her seat, fully asleep. Reserving a little smile for the sleeping girl, he adjusted Naeko's body so that she wouldn't be a walking pain when she woke up. She was mostly leaning on him, but that didn't matter. As long as she was comfortable.

Light sighed as he went back to his book. Even if he knew a lot of English, it couldn't help to brush up on it before they arrived in the country. Burying his nose back into his book, Light proceeded to ignore the rest of the flight, and the passengers on it.

---

"Thanks again, Amy!" Naeko waved goodbye to her friend as the friend waved back before disappearing back into the darkness of the country road they had just driven down. Naeko turned to face Light, her eyes showing how excited she was to be back in the United States, and him with her. "Come on, Light. It's a nice stretch we have to walk before we get to the house, and we have all this annoying luggage too! We better get a move on." Light silently complied as he picked up his suitcase and carry-on bag, following his girlfriend down the dirt path they had been dropped off at.

_Sheesh, her friend could have at least brought us a little closer to the house! Well, she did say that she had somewhere else to be, but it's getting pretty late into the night, and she seemed pretty young. But, she was old enough to have a driver's license, so_…

"Naeko! Darling, it's so good to see you!" Naeko flinched as her mother met her a few feet from the door, encasing her daughter in a huge hug. "We missed you so much and thought of you every day! Oh, and is this your friend?" Naeko's mother looked up from suffocating Naeko long enough to notice Light who, incidentally, was standing in the dark, outside of the house's porch-light's range.

"Yeah, uh, mom, this is Light Yagami. I'm not sure if Aunt Mayako told you about him or not, but he's agreed to participate in the exchange program with me." Naeko gave Light a meaning look and he nodded, a sign that he understood what she was hinting at.

"It's very nice to meet you," Light said, his English only slightly slurred. Light stuck out his hand for Naeko's mother to shake and the older lady blushed, shaking the male's hand gently.

"Well, you can call me Chiko," Naeko's mother went on, "and Naeko's father's name is David. I do hope you'll make yourself at home, Light. Oh, is it alright if I call you by your first name?" Light shrugged, and Chiko let out a high squeal of excitement. Naeko sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Well, Mom, it's late and Light and I have to go to bed since we have school tomorrow." Naeko pushed past her mother and into the house, dragging her heavy suitcase behind her. With one last apologetic look to Chiko, Light followed her, shifting his carry-on bag so that the shoulder strap fit more comfortably and didn't cut into his skin.

"Hey, Naeko," David said warmly as his daughter walked into the living room, having already taken off her shoes. Catching sight of Light, David waved and told him, "I'm sorry you can't have the couch. The dogs have claimed it as their own, and we don't have any extra rooms or beds. If you want, though, we can inflate a camping futon and you can sleep in Naeko's room."

Naeko turned red. "Why my room?" she snapped. It was like she had _never_ been gone for more than 2 months.

"Because you have the biggest room," David replied with a shrug. Plus you have that little dresser that you can empty out for him." Naeko groaned. That meant _work_, and she was so tired!

"Er, actually, I can wait to put my stuff away," Light said quickly, catching the look on Naeko's face. "The plane ride was pretty tiring, and like Mrs. Chiko said, Naeko and I have school tomorrow." David leaned back in his swivel chair and looked up at the ceiling.

"Yeah, that'll work," Naeko's father finally consented. "Naeko, the futon and pump are in the hall closet, why don't you start setting things up?"

Naeko dropped her stuff onto the floor and made her way to the hall closet, letting out a long sigh. Something told her she wasn't going to get much sleep that night…

---

Bwahaha, super short chapter attack! Well, basically you now know that Naeko and Light are in America and that they have school tomorrow (hinted several times). Light's bunking with Naeko (I used to have a pair of dogs that took up the entire couch when they laid down) thanks to the dogs' protectiveness of their territory. And…I still haven't decided where they are! XD

Thank you for reviewing, minna! You guys rock!


	11. Chapter 11

Wow

Wow. Like, wow. I haven't written in…forever. Yes, it's official. I'm the loser who never gets on anymore. I wouldn't blame you guys if you started throwing rocks or flaming pies at my head.

And for the record, I STILL haven't decided where Naeko and Light are. Just imagine a nice little country town in the middle of nowhere, with a lake. And then imagine me, trying to think about what to write, and hitting my head against the desk several times in a row. My guess is you'd get more enjoyment out of the second one.

Naeko sighed and dropped her bookbag onto the ground by her locker. With an early morning start, little breakfast and being late to the bus because _someone_ couldn't find the death note and was panicking, Naeko was already ready to go home for the day. Leaning her forehead against her locker while she did her combination, she was just glad that Light was smart enough to find his way around the tiny school on his own. If she had to take time out of her already busy schedule to help him, Naeko didn't know what she would do. She already got enough of him at home. It was amazing how a family (well, family plus Light) of 4 could share a tiny bathroom. As long as Naeko could take her shower and brush her teeth she didn't care what the others did. Heck, she would even start taking her showers at night if it meant more time to herself!

"Hey, Naeko," someone said just as Naeko got her locker open. A silhouette appeared on the locker next to hers, and Naeko smiled. Only one person would have such a distinct hairstyle. A ponytail on the side of their head, with three strands braided from the ponytail and three other strands beaded.

"Hey, Marlie," Naeko said back. Marlie was a good friend of Naeko's, even if she was a bit of an air-head. "What's up?"

"'What's up?' You've been away for how many weeks and all I get is 'What's up?'" Marlie sounded indignant, and Naeko chuckled. Such a drama queen.

"I've only been gone for a month or so. You can't have missed me that much," Naeko said as she bent down to retrieve her first hour's textbook and workbooks.

"Oh really?" Marlie stepped forward so that she could lean against Naeko's neighboring locker and watched as Naeko shuffled through various folders and books. "By the way, weren't you supposed to be gone for the whole year? Why'd ya come back early?" After a moment she added hastily, "Not that I'm disappointed or anything. I'm really glad to have ya back!"

"I missed it here. Going back to a place with a lot of old memories can take a harsh toll on your sanity," Naeko said jokingly, even if it was true.

Marlie was silent. Oops, even if she had tried to make it sound like she was joking, Naeko wasn't much of an actress. Even the air-headed Marlie knew what Naeko was talking about. How long had it been since Naeko had told her friend about her deceased sister? Too long to remember, anyway. "So…you still remember her that much?"

"Yeah…" Naeko shut her locker and turned to face Marlie. "But it's okay. I'm not going to turn all emo and try and take over the world or anything." _That's Light's job_.

"Oi, Naeko." Both Naeko and Marlie turned to see Light walking down the crowded hall with his books under his arm. Well, speak of the devil. Or, Shinigami, whichever came first.

Marlie turned to Naeko quickly and asked, "Who's that? I've never seen him around here before. How does he know you?" Ah, and the barrade of questions come forth.

Naeko smiled softly and said, "That's Light Yagami. He lives next to my aunt, and I used to play with him a lot whenever I visited that section of town. So, I guess you could say we're childhood friends."

"Yeah, but why's he _here_?" Light was getting closer, and Marlie's voice dropped dramatically in volume so that he wouldn't hear.

Naeko just shrugged. "I asked him to come back to the United States with me, so he followed me using the foreign exchange student program." It was true, of course, but Naeko didn't have to say _why_ Light came with her, did she?

"Yo, Naeko," Light said again once he reached the lockers the two girls were standing at.

"Hey," Naeko replied, as if they _hadn't_ just walked in the school doors together a few minutes ago. "What's up? Find all your classes already?" Naeko spoke all in English, and Light could understand her perfectly. Well, it seems that sometimes last minute studying _does_ help.

"Yeah, I found them," Light replied. He sounded funny talking in English, because of his accent. Marlie giggled and extended her hand for Light to shake.

"Hello, nice to meet you, Light. I'm Marlie, one of Naeko's friends." Light twitched a little when Marlie called him by his first name, but he shook hands with the shorter girl and replied with, "Nice to meet you."

Marlie giggled again, and Naeko rolled her eyes when the girl wasn't looking. Besides being ditzy, the girl was also totally boy-crazy, and the fact that Light was a good-looking, polite, young man didn't help the matter. Ah, well. Sometimes the best friends are the mentally insane ones.

Just then the bell rang, and Naeko jumped out of her stupor. "That's the warning bell, we'd better get to class," she said automatically.

Light looked rather skeptical. "You have another four minutes until the late bell rings, and you can walk slowly around the whole school twice in four minutes, it's so small. I don't think you'll be late."

"Yeah, but it's better to be sure," Naeko argued. "We don't want you to have a tardy on the very first day of school in America, do we?" Margie looked between the two bickering students and sided with Naeko.

"She's right, Light," Margie said, and then giggled. "Ooh, that rhymed! Right, Light. Haha! Well, I'll see you in class, Naeko!" Margie waved and then raced down the hallway. Light and Naeko watched her leave with incredulous looks.

Light sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, whatever. I'll see you at lunch, okay?" Naeko nodded and Light leaned down, placing a tiny, loving kiss on her forehead. Then the teen walked away, in the opposite direction of where Naeko was going to be headed. Naeko watched him walk away, and when he disappeared into a classroom door she sighed and touched her heart, where she could feel her heartbeat racing. _Well, I guess I'm can't ignore it any longer. I'm falling head over heels for that idiot. Even if he is a power-hungry, sadistic smart ass_.

Naeko stood there a moment longer, and then the school bell rang, signaling the last bell.

"AWWW, SHIT!"

Yeah, really short. But hey, you guys barely gave me any reviews! So we're going back to the 1 review 1 page of Blessed Notes. I seriously think that's fair. Unless I get, like, 20 reviews. I'm only going up to 10 pages maximum, that way I can update faster.

Love you everyone! Even if the feeling is unrequited!


	12. Chapter 12

Wow, yay

Wow, yay! Lotsa reviews, ne? I feel spoiled. It's great to come home from a hard day at track practice and see all the emails from you guys alerting me to my new reviews! Unfortunately, the Internet isn't working very well for me right now, so this chapter might be coming a little late. I hate sharing computers…T-T

--

"What is this?"

"It's lunch. Eat it, gulp it down, poke it with your fork until it scurries off your plate, I don't care! But don't complain to me! It's not like you have much of a choice of your lunch selections anyway! Anything you got would be this bad, so live with it!"

"Actually," Light began to intercept, but then shut off, "You're right."

Naeko smirked. "Well, that is my job, isn't it? If I'm not here, who would be there to keep you out of trouble?"

Light smiled lightly. He was slowly but surely adjusting to the life of a normal boy sent as an exchange student to his girlfriend's country. Wait, was that normal? Well, it would have to work, because he needed something to cover up his secret life as Shinigami extraordinaire. In actuality, he was rather anxious. Naeko had convinced him to leave the death note at her house, and it was now sitting, hidden, in a little box underneath her floorboards. How very clique. But, it would have to do. Somehow, the thought of some punk American kid breaking into his locker and finding the death note there was even worse than Naeko's parents finding it. Although, the punk Light could deal with easily, with just the flick of his wrist. Naeko's parents wouldn't be so easy…

"How cute!" Marlie giggled. The three teenagers were sitting at a small table on the outskirts of the lunch area, but none of them were touching the gross blobs of food the cafeteria workers liked to call "food".

"Usually the lunch isn't this bad," Naeko explained to Light as she stood to dump her tray, taking only a shiny red apple to save for Ryuk. "Most of the times you can actually tell what it is – or, should I say, what it's _supposed_ to be."

"Exactly," Light said with a grimace as he too stood to dump his tray of untouched food. Marlie followed soon after, but only after she took a brave bite of the green lump sitting next to the yellow lump. She made a face, then hurriedly gathered the tray up and ran to the trash can, almost running over Light in the process. After dumping her tray, she proceeded to spit out what she had stuck in her mouth. Light felt herself feeling bad for the girl, but she was the idiot who willingly tried the food. Maybe he could keep some of this lunch food in a Tupperware tub and carry it around for protection? 'Touch me and you taste last Tuesday's Meat Surprise!'

Naeko sat back down at the table and spun the apple around by the stick. Light sat back down beside her and pulled her closer, until she was almost sitting on his lap. Naeko didn't seem to mind, or, she was most likely used to it by then. But Marlie just guffawed, jealous of the close relationship her new friends had. It _was_ odd to see Naeko – a girl previously know at the school for her dislike of public affection and touchy-feely boys – sitting on the lap of a person she had just "met" (granted, they were childhood friends, or so they said) two or three weeks ago!

"Oh, hey," Marlie suddenly perked up, "Did you hear we have another new student here besides Light? He's not from Japan though."

"Hm? Really?" Naeko asked, just to be polite. Her best friend was a major gossip queen, and often Naeko was only part of the _loop_ because her friend _created_ the damn thing.

"Yeah. I haven't seen him yet, but supposedly he's really weird. Like, I heard he wears his hair all the way to one side so it sticks out, and he's got dark rings under his eyes…probably an insomniac, which, admittedly, would be pretty cool…"

Marlie rambled on while Naeko continued to play with the apple on the table, and Light tried to think of anyone he had seen in the hallway who looked like the person Marlie had been describing. It was weird getting 3 new students in one day (even if one of the students was coming back from an exchange program).

"So, you're saying he's never been to this school before?" Light slowly said, trying to remember each word he had learned, and in what order they went in. Well, it was nice to see that brushing up on his English on the plane had been a good idea.

Marlie made a face. "Of course not!" Light just shrugged. So, he wasn't an exchange student coming back after a long, hard year or something. Maybe Light should keep an eye on him…

Just then, the bell rang and at least two hundred students stood from their tables and walked to the hallways where their lockers were. This was the bad part of having High School lunches all at the same time, instead of staggering them. There were so many people, you just got pushed along in the crowd.

Light stood up, lifting Naeko off his lap as he did so, and took his girlfriend's hand with a light squeeze. Naeko squeezed back just as gently and led the way through the crowd to their senior hallway. Light sighed; Naeko was such a better girlfriend than Misa, a girl Light had gone out with for a few weeks before Naeko came to Japan. Misa was very demanding, and hung herself on Light on any chance possibly given to her. Naeko was more laid-back, and calm, but Light could still tell that she cared deeply, and vice-versa. It was like the difference between lust and love. One was naughty, invigorating, and down-right fun, but you couldn't enjoy an honest relationship without the other.

Naeko's locker came first in the long line of them, so she slowly withdrew her hand from Light's larger one and leaned up on her tippi-toes to give him a light peck on the cheek, while making sure no one was watching, because kissing wasn't allowed in school. Neither were hugs, but nobody honored the hug rule. Even the teachers hugged each other sometimes, so the students didn't feel obligated to listen when the principal found a couple hugging in the hallway and called the whole school to a meeting.

"See you in 5th period," Naeko said softly, and Light nodded. The only actual "periods" they had together were 5th and 7th, so Light still had to wait a whole period before he would get to see his girlfriend again. He was sure he would survive, if only just.

Light walked on to his locker, while Naeko busied herself with opening hers and getting out the needed books and requirements for her next class.

Naeko's next class was right by her locker. _News in Today's World_. That was the unofficial title of the class, and lord knows why she decided to take it. She probably needed a few more credits and didn't want to take any of the other boring classes. But they debated a lot in this class, and she liked to debate. Talking, getting out her feelings, and getting a grade for those two things made her feel a lot better by the end of the class period. Or maybe it was just the fact that she was allowed to shout at her classmates when they interrupted her.

Naeko entered the classroom and immediately took her seat in the far back. Most of the other students preferred to sit up by the teacher, but Naeko like to sit in the back because she could work on homework while the other students debated, and she could also get a got look at all of the other students' reactions, which helped her pick sides a bit easier on debates she didn't know a thing about. But, then again, sometimes people joined sides because the smarter people in the class were on that side. How very petty.

"Alright class," Mr. Hawnes said as soon as everyone who was in the room was in their seats, "I'd like to start off today by announcing our new student, Mr. Ryuuga."

Eh? Ryuuga was a Japanese name! Naeko sat up in her chair and scoured the room, finally resting eyes on the person in the seat next to her. How could she be so unobservant? The new kid had walked in and sat down right beside her, and she hadn't even noticed! "Mr. Ryuuga, could you please raise your hand."

"Mr. Ryuuga" raised his hand slowly, and not very high. Everyone in the class turned to look at him, and, well, gaped. Because Ryuuga was sitting with his knees up to his chin, his feet on the corner of his seat, and toes dangling off the edge, a pair of beach flip-flops forgotten on the floor. He was hunched over, one hand rested on one knee while the other hung limp in the air. His hair was combed to one side, and stuck out much like Marlie had said. Naeko couldn't get a good look at his face, however, because he was facing the front.

"Well, now that we've gotten that business out of the way, I'd like to start today's activity. Today, I will assign you into a group of two, and you and your partner must agree on a position. We will be discussing the Kira case. Tomorrow, you and your partner will debate against another group with a different position than yours."

Mr. Hawnes started reading off names in the pairs. Naeko had that sick feeling in her stomach that came with premonition.

"And Naeko, could you please pair with our new student and show him the ropes?" Naeko nodded despite herself, and turned to face Ryuuga, who in turn faced her.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Naeko Menshi. Looks like we're partners, huh?"

"Yes, looks like it," Ryuuga said back politely. "My full name is Hideki Ryuuga, by the way."

"Okay," Naeko said brightly, "then can I just call you by Hideki?"

Hideki nodded. "So, the Kira case," he said slowly. Naeko nodded and looked into Hideki's huge, black eyes. Those eyes were studying hers just as much as she was studying them. "What's your position?"

Oh, well, shit. Could she honestly say her position out loud? This wasn't like her first debate in Japan, or even her second, where she had been so firm in her beliefs. Now, even if she didn't like the idea of killing people, she had to agree to it, because she was the co-owner and the occasional user of the Death Note. Not to mention she was the girlfriend of Kira, the world's next King.

"Um, well, I think that what Kira does is wrong, but he_ is_ trying to make a better world," Naeko finally said. _Hah! I am Naeko, hear me roar! If I can play it right, I won't have to take sides at all!_

"If Kira came up to you and asked you to help him make his – as you call it - "better world", would you help him?"

Crap. Crap. Crap. Brain overload! "Well, it depends, "Naeko countered smoothly. "I'm not going to do anything illegal, but I bet I'd be great moral support!" Well, she _had_ done illegal things (coughcoughUSEDTHEDEATHNOTEcough), and she fought with Light about the Death Note at least twice a day, on a good day. So, she was already on a lying spree with this guy, and she'd only known him for…a minute and 23 seconds, exactly. One minute and 24…one minute and 25…

"I see," Hideki said, a look of concentration on his face as he studied Naeko's. It completely unnerved Naeko to have someone look at her for so long, so she decided to turn the tables.

"So…your name is Japanese, isn't it? But I heard someone say you aren't from Japan!" Naeko put on her best 'cheery-and-ready-to-welcome-you-to-my-school' look she could muster at the moment and waited patiently for a reply. But instead she got Hideki's face shoved close to hers.

"Come on," The raven said, taunting the girl, "even you must know that that is merely an alias. Right…

Second Kira?"

Naeko was shocked. Her eyes opened wide, and her breathing hitched, but only for a second. "Well, I guess anybody can have an alias. What's your real name, then?"

Hideki made a sort of snort/laugh, and turned to look at the teacher, who was listening to an animated pair of students on the other side of the classroom. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?" he asked softly, as if offended.

Naeko quickly nodded her head, and then swiftly changed it from side to side. "Well, no, but…I'm sure you must know how awkward it is to talk with someone who just told you they gave you a fake name because they don' trust you."

"I never said I didn't trust you."

"But you accused me of being the Second Kira. And—wait. _Is_ there even a second Kira? I thought there was only one?"

"Oh, so you caught on?" Hideki said with a smirk. Naeko's anger bubbled, seething and steaming in the pit of her stomach. "Yes, I do believe that there are two Kiras, and, of course, I believe that you are one of them."

"Why?" Naeko immediately demanded. "I'm not suspicious in any way! In fact, I'm as normal as you can be!" _Hey, I'm a pretty good liar! That totally sounded convincing_!

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" _Or not_.

"Yes," Naeko said defensively. Just who was this guy, barging into her life and then pointing an accusing finger at her? Granted, a very smart, pointed finger, but still!

"Well," Hideki began, toying with his fingers, "to be perfectly honest, I've been watching you since you were in Japan. Actually, that's when I started watching you, to be precise. And if you had just stayed away from my number one suspect of being the first Kira, we wouldn't be going through this."

"Who are you talking about?" Naeko asked shrilly, still managing to keep her voice low so the teacher's attention wouldn't be attracted to them.

"Yagami Light," Hideki said simply, keeping to the tradition of saying a Japanese person's last name first.

Naeko's eyes darkened. To Hideki, it made her look like she was extremely angry. But inside, Naeko was worried. This guy knew they were the Kiras! In the next period, Naeko would have to tell Light about this! Hopefully 4th period would be the only period Naeko shared with the creepy boy beside her.

"Why aren't you two debating?" Mr. Hawnes asked as he walked up to Hideki and Naeko.

"Sorry," Naeko said apologetically, "we used up all of our ideas. We were just trying to think of new ones!" _A new way of getting rid of this psychopath_!

"Alright then, hurry up!" Mr. Hawnes said with a sigh. He wasn't exactly Naeko's favorite teacher; most likely he wasn't _anyone's_ favorite teacher. He was such a drama king!

"So, our position?" Hideki asked once Hawnes was out of earshot.

"I don't care, I told you I'm a bit of both," Naeko said tiredly. "You seem like an anti-Kira kind of guy, so that'll be our position. "Because he does bad things to people who could possibly have undergone a change in their life for the better, but never got a chance because he killed them." How's that sound?"

"Fine with me," Hideki replied. He was concentrating again, with those big, black, ringed eyes of his. Naeko involuntarily shuddered.

"Just remember," she warned him, "Light and I are not guilty of anything. Don't try to say we are, because we aren't." She sounded like a five year old scolding its mother.

"Right, I'll remember that," Hideki said, a little out of focus, as if he were daydreaming a little too hard.

"Make sure you do," Naeko said with a pout, and then the bell rang, saving her from having to further converse with the weird, alias-bearing, ringed-eyed teenager.

Naeko practically ran out the room, had to do her locker combination twice because her hands were shaking so much, and dumped her books inside once she got the locker door open, picking out her other hardbacks and necessities afterwards in a huge hurry. Slamming her locker door shut, she sprinted to her next class, where Light already had a seat in the back, an empty seat with his books on it reserved for her.

Approaching him with a hardened gaze, she whispered to him, "We have a problem."

--whoopsie--

Kay, so, that's a lot shorter than I thought it'd be. Lotsa reviews, yay! I woulda put the full 10 pages in, but I would have rather updated quicker with a shorter chapter than make you lovely people wait longer for a meager 3 pages more. I'll try harder next time, I promise! It's just that this seemed like a good place to stop!

So, how many of you like the way I portrayed L? (Er, Hideki, I guess, because nobody's supposed to know his real name yet! Shush! Don't tell anybody! XD) I think he's kinda fun to write! I hope I'm getting his character right! And, should I have it to where L and Light are chain cuffed like they are in the anime and manga? I wanted to write a fic using that as a setting (and I still will, but be warned, it'll be LxLight! XD) so I kinda wanted to practice in this fic. But if it's not a good idea, tell me so, okay? Or it's goin' in!

Please review! It makes me happy to see that I'm still getting reviews after so many days! You rock, minna!


	13. Chapter 13

Well, so, um, I'm…back

Well, so, um, I'm…back? Oh my gosh, please don't throw me into the pit! NOOO!!

At least that's over with! Phew! And is now a good time to beg for my life?

--page break--

Light and Naeko sat in Naeko's bedroom at the end of the day, a bag of chips and two glasses full of soda sitting on her desk.

"What are we going to do about him?" she asked, tapping her pencil against the open hardback in front of her.

"I'm thinking," Light said, closing his own workbook, having just finished the assignment. Or, rather, after copying off of Naeko's. English was a messy language to read, and he didn't want to take the time to look up so many words. Besides, he had other things to worry about, such as this so called "Hideki Ryuuga". Lazily, Light reached over and stole a chip from the bag as he mulled over all of his options.

"He was so upfront about it, too," Naeko said, indignantly. "How do you think he found out?"

"I don't know," Light muttered. There were so many questions that needed answering. It was so frustrating!

"Oh, hey," Naeko suddenly sat up straight in her seat and said, "that's right! Light, he said that the only reason he suspected me of being the Second Kira was because I was hanging around with you in Japan. So, he must have been investigating you. How nice of him," she finished dryly, taking a small sip of her coke.

"I'm sorry," Light said quietly, a hand gently rubbing above his temples to ease the headache that was starting to form. "I dragged you into all of this."

Naeko shot Light a sympathetic look and scooted closer to him, until she was leaning against his shoulder. Light looked down gratefully at her and gave her a peck on the forehead.

"Hehe, did I just walk in on something?" a familiar voice asked, and Naeko and Light both looked up. Ryuk stood next to Naeko's bed, in all his Shinigami glory.

"Where've_ you _been?" Naeko asked. "Didn't you get off the plane with us?"

"Yeah," Ryuk said in his gravelly voice, "but I thought I'd tour the town before settling down."

"That's all nice and well, but we have a major problem!" Naeko hissed. "Somebody by the alias of Hideki Ryuuga knows that Light is the first Kira and I'm the second Kira."

"Hideki Ryuuga, huh? Never heard of him."

"I wonder…" Light said, and Naeko and Ryuk turned to face him, "I wonder if Hideki Ryuuga is really L."

"Would L really risk himself by going out into public?" Naeko asked. It didn't sound like something he would do, although Naeko had only a vague idea of who this "L" person was, anyway.

"Probably not, but L is pretty tricky. I wouldn't put it past him to play a trick like this on us. Light stared at the wall across from him, sorting different facts out in his mind. "But it is a bit coincidental, isn't it? A man who just happens to be stalking us arrives at our school as a new student, approaches you, and tells you the name he is using is an alias. Although, he also told you he is not from Japan, although his name begs to differ. It's all so…"

"Weird?" Naeko offered, and Light nodded.

"Yeah. It couldn't have worked out any more perfectly. So, you said that 4th period is the only period you have with him?"

"Yeah, thank God. I can't stand him. But, I take it that means you don't share _any_ periods with him?"

"Nope. He does a poor job stalking me, doesn't he?" Naeko and Light both laughed, and then Naeko's mom popped her head in the door. She smiled at the sight of the two curled up together, doing their homework.

"Time for bed, you two," she said, and Light went to work placing his mattress on the floor and throwing down a few blankets as Naeko closed up the chips, taking them and the empty glasses down to the kitchen. When she came back up, Naeko slipped into her bed and turned off her lamp, bathing the room in darkness. Moonlight shown in through her window. In the near silence, Naeko could hear Light rustling under his covers, trying to find a comfortable position.

"So what are we going to do?" Naeko asked lightly, making sure her parents couldn't hear her from their bedroom next door.

Light sighed. "I suppose we'll just act normal. I've set up the death note so that criminals will still be dying 4 days from now, so we won't have to use the death note for a while. Just keep telling Hideki that we're not the Kiras. But don't act suspicious."

"Yeah…" Naeko said with a sigh. "You know Light, ever since I got involved with you, my life has been really complicated."

"I'm sorry…"

"Yeah right, like hell you are. But if I get thrown in jail or sentenced to death, I just want you to know that…"

"That you love me?"

"—that I'll be blaming you for my misfortune." Naeko and Light both chuckled, though it was no laughing matter. The possibility of them being caught was still high. They would most definitely have to step carefully from then on.

"Well, I guess things'll happen as they happen," Naeko said with a yawn, and she turned over so that she had her back to Light. "Goodnight, see ya in the morning."

"Goodnight." Light stared up at the ceiling. In just a few minutes he could hear Naeko's breathing even out, and he knew she was asleep.

_Dammit! How could I have not known that this Ryuuga guy was stalking me? Or, wait…_

Light thought back to when he and Naeko had first devised their plan to be girlfriend and boyfriend. Someone had been watching them, so they had had to act like the perfectly happy couple. Had that guy possibly been from the same organization as Ryuuga?

All this thinking made Light frustrated. Taking a deep breath, Light tried to fight down the urge to jump up, grab the notebook from its hiding place, and write down Hideki Ryuuga's name, alias or not. Seething, Light tried to think of as many ways to kill Ryuuga as he could. Falling off the school's roof. Brain damage from a locker. A hold-up at the school. Death by…paperclips…

Light's lips twitched. Death by paperclips? That was definitely something Naeko would come up with. Lately, she had been in a better mood, and she wasn't as quiet as she was in Japan. Not that she was very quiet there, anyway. Light decided that he liked this new mood much better. Naeko's true humor was finally starting to peek through.

But hey, "Death by paperclips," would sound really good on a tombstone, wouldn't it?

--page break--

Naeko staggered to her locker the next morning, leaning against the cool, painted metal. Her hands fumbled with the combination, swishing to the numbers she knew by heart. Cursing the idiot who made school mandatory for all people under the age of 18, she dumped her books into the small, messy pile on the bottom of her locker and shifted other books to get to the ones she would need for the rest of the morning, until after lunch.

"Mornin', Naeko," Marlie said, giving her friend a quick hug while the teachers weren't looking. "You look awful. Didn't you get any sleep?"

No, Marlie, I didn't get any sleep. I spent the whole night killing criminals and devising ways to get rid of annoying exchange students from who knows where. Oh, and, you know, Kira and I are and the hottest couple you've ever laid eyes on. And you see us just about everyday. Without even knowing it. Yes, your best friend could possibly get thrown in jail or sent to the gallows because she's Kira's girlfriend. Oh, and she used the death note to kill random people. Ain't that just the funniest thing you ever did hear?

Naeko shook her head, dispelling the sarcastic thoughts. "Nah, I had a lot of homework, and Light needed help with his, so we ended up staying up most of the night. But, whatever." She tried to grin, but it didn't work very well, and the grim came out as a grimace.

Marlie didn't look convinced. "Don't you usually get your homework done in study hall?" she asked, suspicion written all over her face.

For the first time since meeting her, Naeko honestly wanted to smack Marlie. Her eyes widened. A few hot tears made their way down her cheeks. Marlie saw this and immediately grabbed her friend's arm, murmuring apologies as she led Naeko down through the halls, glaring at anyone who stared at the crying girl. Naeko wanted to wipe her tears away, but one arm held all of her books and Marlie had the other tight in her possession.

"Where are we going?" Naeko asked after a moment of just walking through empty hallways. The late bell had just rung, and they were going to be counted as absent if they didn't hurry. But soon, she could see the door with big red letters on it, and understood.

"Mrs. Kennly, is it alright if Naeko lies down for a bit? I don't think she's feeling well." Marlie pushed Naeko onto a small cot in the corner of the room without waiting for the nurse's approval.

"Sure," Mrs. Kennly, the school's nurse, shouted, from back in the kitchen area of the office. Naeko heard the sound of ice falling into a bowl and clacking against each other, and then the open and shut of a freezer's door. "I'll be right there. Does she need anything special?"

Marlie glanced at Naeko and replied, "Maybe something sweet. She looks a little pale."

"Can do!" Mrs. Kennly said in her most cheerful voice.

Marlie glanced at Naeko again, mouthing the words, "I'm sorry," before turning back towards the door.

"Marlie," Naeko called, and Marlie's head popped back into view, "wait around for a bit and you can get a late pass from Mrs. Kennly, that way they won't count you as late."

Marlie looked a little surprised, but then realized that she could get a late pass, and she nodded her head vigorously, a big grin on a childish face.

"Here you go darlin'," Mrs. Kennly said, appearing from the kitchen with a Hershey's bar and a glass of water in a paper cup. Placing the water on the bedside table and handing the bar to Naeko, Mrs. Kennly looked up at Marlie and sighed. "I suppose you want a note, doncha?" Marlie nodded vigorously, and Kennly beckoned Marlie to follow her into the real office, where she hastily scribbled a note and shooed Marlie out of her office. Addressing Naeko, she said, "If you need anything, just give me a call," before disappearing into her office and shutting the door with a soft thud.

Naeko stared down at the candy bar in her hands. Now what? Her tears were still running down her cheeks, but at a much slower rate. That was the first time Marlie had ever actually been suspicious of Naeko. Even when Naeko had lied about being disappointed or hurt, Marlie had left it alone.

Wiping a solitary tear from her cheek, Naeko shook her head and set a determined aura around her. She was just being silly. By tomorrow, they would both forget any and everything that had occurred in that hallway. She was just being stupid, thinking that her best friend didn't trust her.

"Well, hello there," a friendly voice interrupted Naeko's thoughts. She looked up, right into the face of Ryuuga himself. Mentally scowling, Naeko had to remind herself to act friendly (or at least not completely hostile) to this guy as long as he still thought of her as the second Kira and as Light as the first Kira.

"'Lo," She replied, wondering what he was doing in the nurse's office in the first place. Maybe he was stalking her. _That_ was a creepy thought.

"What are you in here for?"

"I could ask you the same."

Hideki studied her closely. "You've been crying," he said simply. It wasn't a question. Naeko burned at the humiliation of him seeing her tears, but she just shrugged.

"Sometimes things just get a little complicated," Naeko choked out, shamed that her voice cracked at least twice in the span of one tiny sentence. Hideki nodded in an understanding manner, and Naeko looked up into his big black eyes. "You know," she said slowly, "no matter how many times you say you aren't Japanese, I just can't believe it."

"Stop changing the subject," Hideki reprimanded, but Naeko could tell he was joking because one of the corners of his mouth twitched upwards into a half smile. The two of them laughed for a minute, and then Hideki stopped suddenly, pointing to the candy bar on Naeko's lap. "Are you going to eat that?" he asked. Naeko looked at it and shook her head, placing it in his waiting hands.

Happily, the boy beside her started to unwrap the chocolate. "Spill," he said.

"What?" Naeko asked, confused.

"Tell me why you were crying. It'll make you feel better if you tell someone about your problems. And I just so happened to be conveniently placed in the cot next to you. So spill."

Naeko was hesitant at first. She told Hideki about Marlie's mistrust, and Hideki just nodded in that understanding manner he always used, as if he were soaking up every word you said. Then she proceeded to tell him that Light was having trouble with his homework, so she stayed up late each night helping him with it, not that she minded helping him, but when she didn't get much sleep she became very cranky. Which led to problems with friends.

"And the problem comes full cycle," Naeko said with a sigh. In the end, she had poured her heart out to him, and would have told him more if the second period bell hadn't rung, snapping her to attention and erasing the thoughts she was just about to put into spoken words.

Mrs. Kennly took that bell as a signal to resurface from her office and ask Naeko, "Feeling better, dearie?" Naeko nodded. She didn't question the fact that the nurse just nodded in Hideki's direction before handing Naeko a pass, just in case she was late, even though she had all of her books with her.

Naeko was about to walk out of the nurse's door when she felt the eyes on her back. Turning, she flashed Hideki an uncertain smile and said, "See you in 4th period, kay?" Hideki smiled back and nodded, this time to confirm their promise of sorts.

_Well, I suppose he's not that bad_…

--lunch--

Lunch was quite an awkward time. Marlie and Naeko avoided each other's gaze, and only spoke to break the awkward tension between them. Light noticed that something was off, but because Naeko and Marlie both shook him off whenever he tried to approach the subject, he just let it go, figuring the girls would settle things between themselves.

The school bell never sounded so good to Naeko when it rang, ending lunch. She stood and hurried, pulling Light with her towards their lockers, leading him through the crowd eagerly.

"Naeko," Light whispered when the crowd had finally thinned to where the two could walk side by side, "Don't you have that Hideki Ryuuga guy in your next class?"

Naeko's stomach dropped. "Um, yeah." Heh. It was like a double feature of the same person. Spending time in the nurse's office first period, distracting thoughts during second and third periods, and then an awkward lunch. Then the second viewing of the same show, only this time in a different language with subtitles that made no sense.

"Are you going to go through with our plan?"

"What, plan? You mean ignore him and act innocent?" Naeko's bad mood must have shone through her tone of voice.

Light blinked. "What's with you?" he muttered, moving on to his own locker.

Naeko felt a bit guilty. Dumping her morning books into her locker she got out her evening books. Luckily, the teachers hadn't assigned any homework yet. Odd, for a Thursday. She just hoped they wouldn't pile it on tomorrow.

The sign on Mr. Hawnes' door read _Free Period (Study Hall_), and Naeko groaned. The subs never really enforced study times, instead letting the students talk among themselves the entire period. And with Hideki Ryuuga as her neighbor-desk-buddy-person, she was sure to have an interesting period. She could just feel the interrogation as it crept upon her.

How fun.

--to be continued--

So, this chapter was a bit shorter than I thought it'd be. Only a little shorter than the last chapter, though.

And I've decided that although the handcuff idea would be hilarious, it'd totally mess up my story. I'll try and slip it in, but you'd probably only get a summary of about 3 weeks, before Light got fed up and refused to play along anymore. But Light and L WILL get some interaction time, because they haven't even met in my story yet.

So, please review! It makes me work harder when I see all those emails. (Really, it does. Have you noticed that the more reviews I get, the faster I update?)


	14. Chapter 14

I don't think I've ever realized how much fun it is to watch my mom squish bugs that are on the ceiling

I don't think I've ever realized how much fun it is to watch my mom squish bugs that are on the ceiling. She's really tall, but she still has to stand on chairs and stuff to reach, so she totters a little bit, and looks like a drunk that climbed up onto a counter to dance, and then realized they never learned how to waltz.

Sue me if that doesn't make sense, but don't sue me for writing this fanfic, cause I don't own Death Note.

Oh, and one of my LOVELY reviewers mentioned that they liked the interaction between Naeko and L. Well, I like writing the interaction. All in favor of making this fic a love triangle between Naeko, L, and Light say "Schaudenfreude!" I'll put another reminder down at the bottom of the page, for those who easily forget. Don't forget to vote!

Naeko slid easily into her usual seat. Hideki was already there, books pushed to one side of the desk, and legs up in that odd sitting position of his. If the students weren't already more spaced out than usual, Naeko would have chosen a different seat, but not only would that gather suspicion onto herself, if would put her between two or three very annoying groups of teenagers, where she would be forced to listen to their stupid gossip and possibly -gasp- join in, albeit reluctantly.

"Good evening," Hideki said coolly once she was seated. His black-ringed eyes searched her face, wandered down her body, and then threw themselves onto the materials she had brought with her to class. "Feeling better, I hope?"

"Much," Naeko bit back, and proceeded to open her notebook, flipping through several pages before finding a completely empty one. "You?"

There was no response, so Naeko paused in her quest for a pencil to look up at her neighbor. He was sitting quietly as usual, eyes staring with no hint of shame, but there was no poker face staring. She could openly see his surprise, and had to ask, "What? Did I say something wrong? Am I not allowed to ask how you are fairing on this lovely day? Or is that confidential information that the second Kira suspect isn't allowed to hear?"

"I didn't expect you to ask," Hideki said truthfully.

"It _is_ common courtesy, you know. Besides, you had to have been in the nurse's office for a reason, right?"

"Oh, that?" Hideki let loose a short laugh, louder than a chuckle, but softer than a bark. "Well, I didn't feel the urge to learn so early in the morning, and I was feeling a little dizzy –low blood sugar, you know?- so I went to the nurse and asked if she had something sweet. I have quite the sweet tooth, actually."

"I hope you brush well," Naeko said, snorting softly to herself. Sweets weren't everything, but they were nice once in a while, in her opinion.

"I do," Hideki said cheerfully, flashing her a smile that showed off his perfect pearly whites. Naeko glanced up, and then hurriedly looked back down at her notebook, trying hard to fight back the sudden urge to blush. Seizing her pencil from where it had been laying beside her notebook, Naeko put the tip to the paper and began sketching lines, soft and short lines that she could easily erase.

Hideki leaned over a little (as far as he could in the school's seat, and with his legs taking up most of the room and creating a very good barrier) to look at Naeko's artwork. It really hadn't taken form yet. It just looked like a bunch of tiny lines that overlapped and created some abstract…well, Hideki didn't even really have a word for it.

And if Naeko cared anything about Hideki looking over her shoulder she didn't say anything. It was almost as if she were determined to ignore him. To show him that she was an ordinary girl with a fiery temper, who couldn't draw worth a crap and was most certainly not related to Kira in any way, shape, or form.

But trust Ryuuga to ruin that.

"What are you drawing?" the curious boy asked, his eyes watching the tip of Naeko's pencil as it lifted and pressed back down against the paper continuously, in a large circle. The pencil stopped, and Hideki's eyes wandered back up to Naeko's.

"Um…I don't know?" Naeko refused to make eye contact with Hideki, but she shrugged and tore the paper out of the notebook, handing it to Hideki. "Here you go. From a regular Picasso herself."

Hideki smiled and took the paper. "I'll frame it and hang it in the doorway. But I think you need to sign it first."

Naeko laughed, and then was suddenly still. She adopted a hateful gaze, glaring at the paper in Hideki's outstretched hand. "Ew, that would require _moving_, which requires _work_. And after all the hard work I put into that masterpiece, too!" Hideki and Naeko both laughed, and Naeko signed the very bottom of the paper, in her best cursive (which was admittedly not all that great.)

"You're so lazy—"

"Damn skippy!"

"--I'm not sure how I ever thought you were the second Kira!"

There was an awkward silence between the two, and Naeko distinctly heard the shrieking of a girl on the other side of the classroom, a boy standing beside her with a smirk on his face. The girl was sputtering something about the boy "feeling her up" or some other nonsense, and Naeko turned her attention elsewhere. The girl just wanted attention, and she was getting it. Or, wait, that was a slip for _de_tention that the sub was handing the girl. Her bad.

Naeko heard the shuffling of books and looked back at Hideki. He was sliding her paper into a folder (that sort of surprised her, she thought he'd just crumple it up and throw it away) and was taking out another piece of paper. This paper was the plain kind that you put in the printer, but it had already been typed on.

"Here," Hideki said, offering the paper to Naeko, who took it with an air of uncertainty. "I'm having a Christmas party this year, so that I can get to know my peers better. If everything goes well here in the US, my parents are willing to let me stay and go to college here, too, and that's sort of what my dream in life has been. Sound corny much?"

Naeko had to hold her mouth closed with her hand. "That's what your life long dream has been?" she asked, although it was a little muffled. Hideki nodded, and Naeko took the hand away from her mouth, thinking seriously.

"Is it that bad of a dream?" Hideki asked, a cross between amusement and concern etched over his fine features.

Naeko shook her head. "Well, no, but, oh…it sounds so…_short-term_, you know? I mean, it really isn't that hard to get into an American college. We have pretty damn low standards." Chuckling nervously, Naeko turned her attention to the paper in her hand before she could make a bigger ass of herself.

The paper was pretty plain, as far as decoration went. There was information sprawled out over the paper in big, fancy cursive (now why couldn't she write like _that_?) that looked barely legible, and then at the bottom was Hideki Ryuuga's name.

"I've invited friends from all over the world; even those that don't celebrate Christmas. Even if you come just to humor me, it would be a great time to meet some new faces." Hideki looked really hopeful, so Naeko shook her head yes.

"I'm not exactly the most social type, but I'll see if I can make it." Ryuuga nodded gratefully, so Naeko put the paper in her folder.

"Mm, wait, I have another one for you to pass on to Light Yagami. Here," Hideki said, holding out another paper, almost identical to Naeko's except for the name at the top. "I never seem to run into Light in the hallways or at lunch, so I figured I would be able to meet and talk to him if he came to the party."

Naeko instantly brightened. "Yeah, sure, that's a great idea! I think Light has been wanting to meet you too, actually." That was a lie. "I bet he'd love to come to your party!" Another lie. "Light's not really the social butterfly, but he opens up quickly if he likes you." Lie, lie, lie.

Hideki smiled warmly. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, Naeko decided. It didn't fit his personality, but god did it make him look heavenly. She wanted to snap a picture of him smiling like that and hang it on her wall…

Shaking her head, Naeko tried to erase her previous thoughts. She loved Light. She _loved_ him. Yet here she was, crushing over some random classmate she hadn't even know for more than 3 days, at the best.

Well, let's rephrase that. She was crushing over his looks, but he could leave that attitude of his at the door.

"So, um," Naeko said, trying to strike up conversation once again, "why is it I never see you at lunch?" Stealing a glance at the clock, Naeko inwardly groaned. They had to spend another 20 freakin' minutes discussing the possibility of going into cardiac arrest after eating the school's "food".

"I don't really like that kind of food," Hideki said with disinterest. "I prefer sweets, actually – I might have said that earlier. So I stop by the nurse's office and help myself to the candy bars in the fridge. That lady – the nurse – never really notices."

Naeko cocked her head to one side and said, "Really?"

"Yeah, she never comes out of that office—"

"No, no, I mean…you really don't seem like the kind of guy who would have a sweet tooth. It surprises me." Naeko laughed nervously. "I mean, you always look so serious!" Except for when he was sending her those yummy smiles that she wanted to hang on the wall…heck, couldn't she just kidnap him and stuff him in her closet? Lots of creepy perverted guys did that all the time with young school girls and got away with it, so why couldn't she do it too?

Okay, well, duh. That was a stupid question.

"You think I look serious?" Hideki asked, amusement tinting his aura. His lips twitched, and his eyes laughed. _My God_, Naeko thought, _I never noticed how much expression a person's face could have! And all this from someone who's mood is always a blank card_!

"U-um, yeah, I mean, you rarely ever smile, and…" Naeko broke away, because then Hideki's lips curled up and he directed the most breathtaking smile Naeko had ever seen at the subject of his torture.

"That better?" the boy asked, the smile still fixed on his face. His expression and the tone of his voice reminded her of one of the handsome bishies in anime cartoons her sister had watched with her. Any second now, she expected little pink clouds and hearts to rise up from around Hideki's seat and surround his shining face. Then, every girl in the class (herself included) would turn to look at him and little stars would pop up where their eyes were supposed to be. Then, a fanclub would be formed in honor of the handsome exchange student, and…well, she could go on and on.

"Are you alright, Miss Menshi?" Hideki asked, bringing Naeko back to reality. He looked very concerned. "Your cheeks are really red, are you sure you still don't have a fever?" he raised a hand to put against Naeko's cheek, but she swatted it away.

"I'm fine! And what's with calling me "Miss Menshi"? My name's Naeko, so just say Naeko, alright?! "Miss Menshi" makes me sound like an old person!" Naeko huffed and turned in her seat, so that her back was mostly facing Hideki. Then she sneaked another peek at the clock. 5 more minutes. She was doing very well, in her opinion. They hadn't talked about Kira very much at all in the period – not seriously, anyway - which was sort of what her goal was.

"Well, I'm sorry," Hideki said, and he sounded a little hurt, so Naeko glanced over her shoulder. He too was looking up at the clock. But his eyes remained motionless, if not a little glazed over.

"I'm sorry," Naeko squeaked, and she flipped back around in her seat, to give Hideki her undivided attention.

Hideki slowly turned his gaze from the clock to her, and he was smiling again, one of those warm smiles that she loved so much. "Yeah, I really don't know why I thought you were the second Kira. You're just too gutless."

Naeko was about ready to squawk out an indignant protest when the bell rang, and Hideki slid out of his seat. "Will I see you at my party?" he asked softly.

Naeko scoffed. "It's not even for a while, so I'll think about it." Another 'lost puppy' look from Hideki and she quickly added, "But, even famous people like myself have to go out and party sometimes, so I might as well go for the heck of it. And I'll be sure to bring my date!" Naeko winked, but Hideki darkened.

"Yes, Yagami Light…please make sure he comes," Hideki said, so softly that Naeko could barely hear him.

Naeko laughed, able to keep the nervousness out of her laugh for once. "Yeah, I'll even drag him there if I have to! Well, I'll be late to class if I don't leave soon, so I'll see you later. Bye!" And then she rushed out of the room.

Light met up with Naeko just as the tardy bell rang. She had been standing by her locker, because she knew that if she didn't show up to class, Light would leave to come find her. It didn't seem like something he would do, but she knew he would.

Unfortunately, Light looked furious when he approached Naeko in the hallway. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked her, half shouting, but afraid that a teacher would poke their head out of their door to see who wasn't in their classrooms yet.

Naeko just ran up to him and pounced on him, swinging from his neck and giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek. "Can we skip the rest of the day, Light-chan?" she asked in her cutest voice. Light looked horrified (and possibly even more pissed) at the honorific she attached to his name, but he didn't asked any questions. Nodding slightly, the two snuck to the back door and exited the school building, shielding their eyes as the bright winter sun scorched their eyes and warmed their bodies.

"Where are we going?" Light instinctively asked, but Naeko shook her head and gave him a mischievous smile, snatching up his hand in hers as the walked down the snow-filled sidewalk.

"You'll see."

Yay! Was this chapter a little longer? I sure hope so. It didn't quite meet the standards that I had set for myself, but then again, I'm the type of person who starts something and never finishes it. Actually, I've finished quite a few stories, and I can't wait for this one to be done! No joke, I'm ready for it to _end_. So, me thinking about 5 or less chapters left. Me thinks that sound good. For me, not you. At least, me thinks.

Oh, and don't forget to vote for the whole "love triangle" thing. Remember, "Schaudenfreude!"

…Time for me to eat fish…


	15. Chapter 15

Woohoo

Woohoo! I would like to dedicate this chapter to vampirenin, who practically wrote up the end of the story for me! No kidding. Thank you so much, and hopefully you got the message I sent you.

And, as we near the end of this story, I would like to tell everyone that I am currently taking requests. Any pairing, any anime/manga. Just send me a PM if you're interested! Also, I'm a registered beta! Grr…GIVE ME SOMETHING TO DO! …just kidding! I wouldn't eat you, really.

PAGEBREAKPAGEBREAKPAGEBREAK…

Naeko and Light walked hand-in-hand down the snowy sidewalk, shivering in the cold mid-evening weather. Naeko decided that today was definitely a bad day to wear her light jacket. Light's cheeks were tinged pink, and the tip of his nose felt numb.

"We're almost there," Naeko said, her breath creating little puffs in the air in front of her face. Light nodded, his hand tightening on Naeko's.

"Why won't you just tell me where we're going?" Light asked after a minute of silence.

"That would ruin the surprise."

"So?" Naeko snuck a peek at Light. He had a frown on his face, and he was staring straight ahead.

"Hey, Light, are you pouting?"

"No!" Naeko laughed at Light's immediate reaction, and Light was glad that the cold had masked his slight blush.

"Oh, hey, right here." Naeko dragged Light through a patch of bushes, scattering dusty snow over their pants in the process. "It's just down this trail."

The "trail" was really just a path cut into a batch of trees and bushes, trampled and beaten upon by hundreds of feet.

"Wow," was all Light could say. The lake that Naeko had been so excited about was in front of them, but he couldn't really call it a lake. It looked more like a glacier, stretching across the land until he saw the tiny fringe of trees on the very far side of the lake.

"It's usually swamped during the summer with students going for swims and the like, and there's tons of bonfire parties on a strip of beach over there," Naeko pointed to their right, talked faster with excitement, "but during the winter there usually isn't thick enough ice to go ice-skating, and it's really peaceful, so I like to come here and sit."

"You sit in the cold snow?" Light asked, bemused. Naeko nodded, almost shamefully. "It's sounds like something you'd do."

Naeko smiled and grabbed Light's other hand with hers. "I love you, you know that, right?" she told Light, who looked more than a little surprised. But then the teen softened, and he pulled Naeko into his arms.

"Yeah, I know. I love you too," he replied, muffled by the strands of her hair that got caught between his lips as he nuzzled into her chocolate locks.

"I know we haven't talked much since we came here, and I've been acting like a total bitch," Naeko said guiltily, and rested her head on Light's shoulder, relishing in his warmth, "so I'd like to catch up now. Anything happen in school today while I wasn't there?"

"I can understand why we haven't had much time to talk. I was busy when we were in my town, and now you're busy in yours. You haven't been acting like a bitch, either," Light said heartily, slowing down a little when he got to the B-word. "And no, nothing of significance happened at school. How about you?" Light look loving down upon Naeko's head and starting stroking her hair.

"Hideki and I talked all period. You won't believe this!" Naeko suddenly thrust herself away from Light and held him at arms length, excitement shining once more in her hazel eyes.

"What?" Light, affected by her excitement.

"Hideki said he didn't know why he had suspected me of being the second Kira! He might still suspect you, though, so we might have to play it safe a little longer. But he also wants to invite us to a party he's hosting." Naeko dug around in her backpack until she found a crumpled invitation, handing it to Light.

Light's eyes scanned the paper, and then he looked up at Naeko. "Why don't you go?" he said, crumpling the paper with one fist.

"You aren't going? Not even to check this Ryuuga guy out? What if he's the real L or something, or from the Japanese police? He does look Japanese, even though he swears he isn't!" Naeko latched onto Light's arm, trying to convince him to go to the party.

Light sighed at curled an arm around Naeko, pulling her close once more. "Look, there's something I need to tell you about." Naeko nodded and trained her eyes on Light's face, letting him know he had her full attention. "The other day, I got a call from my mother. She's arranged for me to visit back to Japan for a week. My father died of a heart attack while he was sleeping."

Naeko covered her mouth with a shaky hand. "No way…that can't be! I'm so sorry!" Naeko hugged Light tightly and the boy returned the embrace, a few tears leaking from closed eyes.

"So, you aren't going because you'll be in Japan that week?" Naeko asked softly, and Light nodded. With tender love, she drew her fingers through Light's baby soft strands, massaging his skull in an attempt to comfort him.

After a period of time where they stayed like that, Light crying softly on Naeko's shoulder and Naeko running her hands through his hair, Naeko asked, "What should I tell Hideki? He's going to wonder why you aren't going to the party."

"Just tell him the truth. I don't care if he knows little personal facts." Light stood up to his fullest and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "God, I feel like a huge baby," he mumbled to himself.

Naeko stood beside him, looking out at the lake. "Maybe we should go home now," she muttered to herself, but Light heard her.

"Your parents won't notice if we're home before they are?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Nope. We usually arrive home around the same times anyway, so if we're a little early it shouldn't matter. Wanna go?" Light shrugged, so Naeko took it as approval and started back up the path and onto the street. "It'll be nice to take a walk anyway."

Suddenly, Naeko stopped short. "Actually, I just realized how long a walk it is to my house. Can we just go back to school and hitch a ride on the school bus?"

Light laughed and nodded. Naeko grinned and said, "Race you!" taking off in the other direction. Light was surprised, but he quickly recovered and was on Naeko's trail, feet splashing in puddles of slush and dirty water.

THENEXTDAY--

For once, Naeko was _itching_ to go to 4th period. She was tapping her fingers on the lunch tables, and even Light was confused by her behaviour. The bell couldn't ring fast enough.

Rushing to grab her books out of her locker, Naeko gave Light a quick peck on the cheek before abandoning him in the busy hallway to continue on to the classroom.

Mr. Hawnes had already started class by the time Naeko burst through the door, despite the fact that only half the class was there.

"Menshi, get to your seat!" the annoying teacher yelled, drawing attention to the young Asian girl. Naeko thought about sticking her tongue out at the idiotic teacher, but decided against it. As she was hurrying to her seat, the man continued, "We have to hurry today. I want everyone to push the desks to the sides of the room, and then separate with your group-member into the respectable sides: left is Kira-supporting, and right is for those who are against Kira. Chop chop, this is a shorter class. If we get done in time we can all have free time."

The students hurried to do Hawnes' bidding, as the big man himself lectured the students who had been later than the rest of the class. Most of the class was on the left side, with only a few remaining stragglers hanging out on the right side. Naeko allowed to desk to be slid away, but she till stood leisurely in the middle of the room, Hideki slumped over beside her.

"Menshi, choose a side!" Mr. Hawnes boomed. People on the left side of the room glared at Naeko, daring her to defy them, while the few pairs on the right side gazed hopefully at her, wishing for her protection and awesome debating abilities.

Despite the controversy, Naeko just tapped her foot idly and coolly replied, "This _is_ my side. Well, _our_ side." The girl rolled her shoulders and slanted her body to indicate the teen beside her.

Hawnes wouldn't have any of it. "Stop being such a troublemaker and just go along with the class for once, Menshi," the giant man growled.

"I am," Naeko nearly growled back. "Hideki and I both agree that there are things that Kira is doing right and doing wrong. So, with that, we'll start. Remember, we have limited time this class period." Staring straight into Hawnes' ugly face, she tapped an invisible watch on her wrist. "Chop chop, we don't have forever teacher."

Hideki glanced up through his bedraggled hair to regard Naeko with a respectable gaze. Naeko just smirked and switched her weight from one foot to another. "Well? Shall we move on?"

-43 minutes and 26 seconds later-

"Good GOD, I thought that man would never shut up!" Naeko whined as she pulled her stuff out from under the pile of desks. "Wasn't it our time to debate? But he just talked half the time!"

Hideki rummaged in the mess beside Naeko and nodded to himself, possibly agreeing with Naeko. Not that she was paying attention. "And he's wasn't even talking about Kira and the Japanese police's progress in finding him! Gosh, I hate that guy…can't they just fire him? Maybe I'll use photoshop to doctor photos of him and call him a sexual harasser." Naeko was quiet for a moment, and then laughed. "Nah, wait, I can't use photoshop! I'll need to hire a pro to do it…"

"Naeko?" Hideki asked very quietly, and Naeko turned to him, smiling brightly.

"Yes?"

"Have you talked with Light about the party?"

Naeko's face fell, and was instantly replaced with one of regret. "Light's dad just passed away, so he's going to visit his family in Japan for a week. He just told me the other day. I don't know why he's waiting so long to go, though. Do they usually wait for a few weeks before having the funeral?" Naeko kept rambling, but realized that she was being inconsiderate. "Um, well, anyway, he can't go. I'm sorry. I'll still be going, though!" Naeko managed a half-smile, and Hideki returned the smile with an air of disappointment.

"I'm very sorry," Naeko commented, and Hideki shook his head.

"No, no! It's okay!" Hideki flashed a smile that showed off his perfect teeth, and then turned to head down the adjacent hallway. "You better get to class though, Naeko. You'll be late."

"Huh?" Naeko looked around and realized that Hideki had led her out to her locker through the conversation, and she hadn't even realized it. The corridor was almost completely deserted, as the students had but a minute to get to their classes before being marked tardy.

"Talk to you later," she mumbled before pivoting on her heels and heading to her next classroom, making it just in time.

PAGEBREAKPAGEBREAKPAGEBREAK (We're skipping ahead about a week and a half, the day of Light's departure and 4 days before Hideki's party…)

"Bye-bye," Naeko said as she placed a chaste kiss upon Light's cheek. "Come back soon. Tell your mother I said hi!"

Light smiled and ruffled Naeko's brown hair, making the topmost layer frizz and stand up. "I will. Don't have too much fun here without me."

Naeko mocked an indignant face and replied, "Fun? Fun?! Who has fun?" Light laughed and bent down, leaving a small kiss on Naeko's forehead. Standing back up to his fullest, he nodded his head to the board mounted on the wall behind him and shrugged.

"My plane's leaving in a few. I'll call you when I land, okay?" Light smoothed down the hair he had previously ruffled and placed yet another kiss on Naeko's forehead, fully aware that the girl's parents were standing only a few yards away. "Behave, alright?"

Naeko puffed her cheeks out and pouted. "Mou…you think I'm a little puppy that needs to be obedient, huh?" Light smiled lightly and shook his head in negative.

"Bye, see you in a week." Light gave Naeko a brief hug and the girl had to keep her hands at her sides to stop herself from wrapping them around Light's neck, entrapping him so that she could beg him to stay with her. But, Light needed to be with his family at a moment like this. She shouldn't stop him.

But it still _hurt_.

When Light was a safe distance away, Naeko's parents walked over to stand by their daughter, each putting a comforting hand on her shoulders.

"He'll be back soon…"

"I know." Naeko sniffed and watched as Light walked through the small door, effectively cutting off her view of him. "I suppose we should go home now; no reason to stand around the airport like a bunch of bums."

Naeko led that way out to the car so that her parents couldn't look back and see the tears glittering in her eyes, brimming up and threatening to fall.

PAGEBREAKPAGEBREAKPAGEBREAK

Okaaaaayyyy…well, good news first.

Thanks to **vampirenin**, I now know how the story is going to end, so updates should be much quicker from now on!

(By the way, vampirenin, I didn't know if you got my message or not, but basically you ROCK and I love you sooooo much for helping me! You get cookies, pies, ice cream…name it and you shall receive!)

Um, so…no one's gonna kill me for, like, taking a month to update? Actually…a month in two days. Hmm, speaking of days…my B-day is on the 26th! Someone please congratulate me for turning 14!

Anyway, the next update should take less time, especially if I don't goof off and stuff. Reprimand me in your reviews, if you please! Maybe it'll whip me into shape! XD


	16. Chapter 16

So sorry, I think I might've lied a little when I said the updates would be coming sooner

So sorry, I think I might've lied a little when I said the updates would be coming sooner. Fortunately, I didn't lie when I said there are only a few chapters left. And I want you all to know how close I came to giving up on this fic. But, since it's only got a little torture left to hold me to, I'll finish it. (bows)

Naeko didn't know what was going on. Most of the time she had a small clue, or even a hint of a clue.

But when you're thrown into a party at a mansion you didn't know even _existed_ in your home town, expected to greet a good population of the guests (of whom only half speak English), and then are left on your own to fend for yourself for the rest of the night, there's probably going to be a little culture shock.

Pulling her shawl a little closer around her shoulders, Naeko shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another. She had no clue where Hideki was, and the thought that she had come to the wrong mansion party raced through her mind.

Haha. That was a good one. Mansion party. Ha. Haha.

Cursing her inner sarcasm, Naeko tried to peer through the crowd, looking for people she might recognize. _Wasn't this supposed to be for Hideki's friends and classmates? Everyone here is at least 30 or 40 years old!_ Naeko didn't recognize a single person, which was just slightly odd. According to Hideki, he had given out invitations to all of the kids in their grade. _So why are all these people __**old**__?!_

Skirting around an older Egyptian man, Naeko bustled past an elderly Chinese lady, stopping just in time to avoid running into a man who was speaking Romanian very quickly. At least, that's what she thought it was. She couldn't tell his ethnicity just by looking at him, and the only languages she knew were English and Japanese. _Hideki has a wide variety of friends, doesn't he? I wonder if he's traveled all around the world…?_

When Naeko wasn't looking, she accidentally bumped into yet another person. Bowing to them without looking at their face, she said in flustered voice, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there. Please excuse me." She really hoped the person spoke English, and would understand her apology. Trust her to get in a fight at an extravagant and lavish party.

"You know, I almost prefer it when you're spazzy and rude," a chuckling voice said, and Naeko's head shot up.

"Hideki!" she said cheerfully, half-tempted to jump on the other teen and give him a giant hug, she was so glad to see him. The teen was wearing a set of formal wear and his hair was slightly tamed, at least, more than usual. He looked…_good_. Blushing slightly, Naeko continued, "I was just about to go looking for you. I get so lost, just _looking_ at the crowd."

Hideki smiled slightly. "I'm glad you came. I've actually been looking for you, also. I'm sure you're not used to events like, this, right?"

Naeko scoffed. "'Not used to it'? I'm completely and utterly lost. Don't tell me you know all these people _personally_?"

"Personally? Well, I suppose you could say that. Most of them are friends that I met while traveling in a student ambassador program." Hideki looked around at the countless people crammed into the main hall of the mansion. "There are a few I know better than others, but essentially they are all my acquaintances."

Naeko raised an eyebrow. "I thought this was a party to get to know your peers better?"

Hideki looked a little hurt. "Well, I handed out the invitations, but apparently nobody showed up."

Naeko was going to sympathize with Hideki, and say something like, "Well, I'm sure they were just busy," or, "Then those people are complete asses," but then she realized it was _Hideki_.

"Yes, I'm sure you did, you complete and utter liar," Naeko said with dry sarcasm.

Hideki tucked his hands behind his back and looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Naeko laughed, glad that Hideki wasn't acting all pompous and uptight just because he had a few important friends over. "So, I'm the only one from our class who showed up?" she asked, just to be sure.

"Well, since no one accepted my invitations…" Hideki murmured with a small wink. "I guess that would be a 'yes'."

"That's just great. Now I have to actually _socialize_ if I want to have a good time," Naeko said with a small sigh. "Socializing…yuck." Naeko stuck out her tongue and put her hands on her hips. "So…what to do now?"

Hideki stepped forward, closer to Naeko, as a young man serving drinks tried to step around him. "I was actually going to introduce you to a few of my closer friends," the teen said, putting a hand lightly on Naeko's shoulder. "That is, if you would like to."

"That'd be a lot easier than making my own introductions," Naeko admitted. "I'm not good with talking to strangers, actually, especially if they're intimidating." Naeko looked around at some of the chatting people around her and realized that none of them were speaking English. "Also…I think I'll need a translator."

It was Hideki's turn to laugh. "Everyone here speaks English, rest assured. Most of them live here and just represent their countries at parties such as these. It's not often that they are able to speak with others in their native tongue."

"Ohh…I see!" Naeko said, looking around. "But still, it would feel awkward walking up to someone who is speaking Russian, for example, and saying, 'What's happenin'?' Even I don't have the guts to do that. Plus, just about everyone's older than me!"

"Then, how about I introduce you to a few people at a time? If you do it in a small group you don't have to do the polite conversation thing," Hideki said knowledgably, holding up a finger like a school teacher.

Naeko nodded her head. "True, true. Lead on!"

While Naeko was shaking hands with a smile on her face, Light was shaking hands with tears in the corners of his eyes. He, his mother, and Sayu had been preparing themselves for this day, but no amount of preparation can prepare someone completely for the death of a loved one. The funeral had ended a while ago, but a long line of people still remained, waiting to shake hands with the remaining members of the family and share the mourning. Sayu had excused herself a while ago, the tears running down like streams upon her cheeks. Sachiko was also crying, but she held a small handkerchief in one hand as she shook people's hands with the other.

Matsuda was next in line. His eyes had dark rings under them, and his body held the posture of a defeated person. Silently, he shook Sachiko's hand, and then moved on to Light. The two men stood facing each other, and then Matsuda let out a small sob. Light stepped forward and wrapped a comforting arm around the man, sharing silent tears. Though Light had been in America, he had still been contacting the team, keeping his façade of trying to find Kira. It seemed like just yesterday that he had been arguing with Mogi over the phone about the murderer's whereabouts.

"Light-kun?..." Light looked up to see Misa standing in line, her heavy black eyeliner smeared down her cheeks. Matsuda stepped to the side so Misa could come up and wrap her arms around Light, and Light was so miserable he didn't even care that Misa was squeezing him just a little too tightly. Had she even _known_ his father?

Light managed to evade Misa's grasp and rubbed at his eyes, brushing the salty tears away. God, it was times like these that he wished he could see Naeko. He deeply missed the bright girl, and was cursing himself for not asking her to come with him.

Ahhhh…love.

Naeko opened her eyes with a small groan. It was dark in the room she was in.

Whoops, nevermind. A door across from her opened, letting in a strong ray of light. "Ah, I see you're awake."

"Where am I?" she grumbled, sitting up in what appeared to be a king-sized bed with the softest sheets she had ever touched.

Hideki ignored her question, stepping into the room but leaving the door open so he wouldn't have to turn on the lamp. "You know, you must be the biggest klutz in the world. I've never seen someone slip on their own dress and give themselves a concussion. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Hideki raised a hand to Naeko's forehead, checking for a temperature.

Naeko's face was blank. "Hold up. I did _what_?"

"That shawl of yourself is pretty slippery, isn't it?" Hideki asked, nodding his head towards the shawl that had been folded and placed at the end of the bed. "If it's too long, don't you think you should wear something else? But I have to say, I was quite surprised when I suddenly lost sight of you. I didn't expect you to be on the _ground_."

"How come _I_ don't remember any this?" Naeko half-growled.

Hideki just shrugged. "Concussion?" he guessed.

"And you let me _sleep_? You aren't supposed to let the person sleep! You're supposed to say, 'Stay with us, no! Don't go! Stay awake okay?!' and hold me until I fade out dramatically!" Naeko said frantically, waving her arms around and making hand gestures to the piece of drama she made up on the spot.

"You were already asleep by the time I got to you," Hideki said defensively. It was then that Naeko realized the teen had changed back into his regular clothes.

"Hey…is the party over?" Naeko asked.

"Yeah. It's one in the morning," he said off-handedly. "I would have taken you home, but I don't know where you live and I don't know your phone number." Hideki reached over Naeko to open the drawer in the bedside table, taking out a cell phone. While the drawer was open, Naeko saw a wallet and her interest perked, though she tried to hide it.

"Here," Hideki said, handing the cel phone to Naeko, "use it to call your parents and tell them that you're fine. I'm sure they're worried, since most formal parties don't last until 1 AM." Hideki winked and stood, already on his way out the door. "It also snowed while you were asleep, so I don't mind if you spend the night instead of asking your parents to brave the roads. You can have this bedroom if you do. If not, I'll be in the room 3 doors to the left of yours. I can call a cab for you."

"Uh, thanks," Naeko said, but Hideki was already out the door. Staring down at the cell phone in her hand, she flipped it open and stared down at the keys. In the end, she called Marlie's phone number.

"Hey, yeah, is Marlie there? Yeah, I'll wait…hey! Can you call my parents and tell them I'm spending the night? No, not at your house. At someone's else's house. …Yes, it's a boy, but--HEY! They know who it is! No I'm not doing anything like that. …Why would the color of my underwear matter? You know what, just do it, okay? As my best friend? Alright, thanks. Bye."

Flipping the phone down, Naeko effectively cut off the call. Leaning back against the pillows, she stared down at the phone. Would Hideki track the call? She didn't know why, but for some reason, she didn't want Hideki to have her number, and it would look suspicious if she hadn't called anyone.

Almost without thinking, he eyes wandered over to the bedside table. _Well, my parents __**did**__ always tell me to put things back where I found them_, she thought, reaching for the drawer. The metal rails squeaked against each other a little, as she pulled on the handle and reached in with the hand that had the cell phone, planning to switch the two.

Her fingers were just brushing the cool leather of the wallet when the door to the bedroom opened once more. With a small thunk, the cell phone fell out of Naeko's grasp and her hand flew out of the drawer like it was on fire. "Oh, um…"

"I forgot to tell you where the bathrooms were," Hideki explained. "Down the hall, past my room, and then you turn left at the T intersection. That one is closest, but if you wake up tomorrow and go to breakfast, there's another one beside the kitchen." Hideki had a small smile on his lips, but his eyes told that he was a little agitated. "Just so you know. Breakfast is at nine tomorrow. The alarm clock on the cell phone is set for 8:30, so I'd keep it out." With that, Hideki exited just as quickly as he left.

_Damn_…

Next chapter: The Confrontation! Hideki reveals his true identity when an uninvited visitor comes to pick Naeko up!

Sneak Peek:

"_W-what do you mean you're from the Japanese police force?"_

"_It's exactly as it sounds," Hideki said, stepping closer to Naeko, a wild gleam in his eye. "And now that I've caught the Second Kira, I'll be heading back to Japan…_

_And I'll be taking you with me."_

"_You won't touch her," another voice cut in. "because she's __mine__."_

Ja ne! It would be amazing if the next chapter was the last. I hope it's extra super long!


End file.
